Medicalization of Death

The idea of, death forces individuals to perceive life as a significant journey that wa can all to easily take for granted. At some time and point in our lives we will lose loved ones, but at the same time the lost of a loved one allows us to take control of our lives that can unconsciously become meaningless. In my particular case, losing my mother to lung cancer after being diagnosed six months before her death caused me to look at things slightly differently. After I was notified by the physicians that there was absolutely nothing that could be done to save my mother’s life, an impromptu decision on whether my mother should be placed on a breathing machine or to allow her to die on her own with the help of medication to ease the pain had to be decided. Once I decided to bypass the breathing machine that would of possibly prolong her life, I noticed how the acceptance of death changed the parameter of her being considered as an individual who is still with life. I felt as if the nurses and the physicians may have viewed her lifeless and as a person that was possibly taking up space in the ICU. She was quickly removed from ICU and placed in a hospice where death is expected to be accepted rapidly even though I felt there was no need to accept because of my denial of her death. After my experience I became a little apprehensive when it comes to the health and medical industry. The medicalization of death changes the meaning of death and changes the individual that is dying. Medicalization of death can be perceived as using technology to prolong someone’s life, but at the same time it can be distinguished as a method that lengthens the period of a suffering individual. In addition to redefining death, the medicalization of death transforms the relationship between the patient and the doctor as well. In this essay, I will discuss the historical and cultural changes in ideas about death, the impersonal behaviors of medical practitioners and how their attitudes shape...