21 July 2016

I seem to have entered the "dying role"

An excerpt from Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End,  by Atul Gawand:
Technological society has forgotten what scholars call the “dying role” and its importance to people as life approaches its end. People want to share memories, pass on wisdoms and keepsakes, settle relationships, establish their legacies, make peace with God, and ensure that those who are left behind will be okay. They want to end their stories on their own terms. This role is, observers argue, among life’s most important, for both the dying and those left behind. And if it is, the way we deny people this role, out of obtuseness and neglect, is cause for everlasting shame. Over and over, we in medicine inflict deep gouges at the end of people’s lives and then stand oblivious to the harm done.
But I'm not dying.  As far as I know.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for this. It's a perspective I never thought about & one of the reasons I absolutely love this blog. I've lost several of my elderly relatives this year and this really helps me understand what they need, and what I can do to support them.

    ReplyDelete