yulius hermanto
Different Aspect of Death
Death is Nature's master stroke, albeit a cruel one in mankind life. When the time comes in the life of any organ or person when it is better to start again from scratch rather than carry on with the weight and muddle of endless accretions.
Our bodies and minds are these perishable phenotypes, which always turns to scum, on the wave of our genes.
Death is one of Nature's great insults that she should prefer to put all her eggs in the basket of a defenceless, incompetent neonate rather than in the tried and tested custody of our own superb minds. But as our brain start to degenerates and that baby walks to a wisdom that eludes us, we are forced to give Nature credit for her daring idea. Of course, nature, in her careless way, can get it wrong; people often die in wrong order.
Medicine or health care main roles is to prevent this misordering or death, not the phenomenon of death itself. Death is inevitable phenomenon of living creatures, we as human have to consider and accept it.
Nowadays, there are severals phenomenon of the death:
- Most of people dying at the hospital, the incidence far more common than vehicle-accident.
- With the improve of medicine, we can easily know about the prognosis or survival rate of certain disease.
- Chronic unconscious patients are really conflicting whether he/she still alive or not.
- Euthanasia, medical approved death by patient's own will.
Facing the Death
Those phenomenon that i described, maybe just a few of situations that occur around us related to death. In this article, i will described about death related to medicine.
Most of the patients with terminal disease or end-stage disease, will hear a story that they wouldn't have to hear that. They will be told about their illness conditions and prognosis, most of them are told about their life expectancy.
The common phrase "You would be die in 6 months."
I think that everyone will act about the same at first time, they know that they will die in short time. Knowing that death in coming in short time, put them into psychological stress.
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss psychiatrist did landmark work with the terminally ill patient in the 1960's which resulted in the establishment of a "cycle" that she found each patient went through upon learning of their imminent death.
- The first reaction was shock. The universal first reaction to hearing the news was, "No."
- The second stage that quickly followed was denial. "This can't be happening to me."
- The third stage was anger. This anger was usually directed at God, nature, or luck, but needed to be understood by the family because it usually became directed at them at some point.
- The fourth stage was bargaining. The patient typically hoped that God would extend their life or cure them in exchange for promised behavior.
- The fifth stage was grieving. This is usually the longest lasting stage of the cycle and is marked by deep depression and mood changes.
- The final stage was acceptance. Once this stage is reached, the patient usually used whatever time remaining to "put their house in order." There was a marked peace in the patient's mood. Death was not a feared event.
Back to the begining of this article, death is phenomenon of living creature, we can't avoid, or decide to die in certain way (except suicide).
The concept of dying with dignity has established, and accepted, as the better way to treat or manage the patient with dignity. Maybe the disease can't cure, but the suffering has to be relieved.
The way to help the people to die with dignity, is begin by helping them to accept the death, by findings livings will, or main concern, and help them to find the solutions for their problems. If we can explore patients inner emotions, actually they aren't fear about the death, but they are worried about someone or something else that will be abandonned if he/she died.
Besides dealing in psychological supports, the disease also has to managed in order to relieve the suffering, such as pain-relief medications.
At the end of this article, i would like to say that people with terminal disease are very sensitive about the death issues, but caring them with love and passion help them to die with dignity.
Our bodies and minds are these perishable phenotypes, which always turns to scum, on the wave of our genes.
Death is one of Nature's great insults that she should prefer to put all her eggs in the basket of a defenceless, incompetent neonate rather than in the tried and tested custody of our own superb minds. But as our brain start to degenerates and that baby walks to a wisdom that eludes us, we are forced to give Nature credit for her daring idea. Of course, nature, in her careless way, can get it wrong; people often die in wrong order.
Medicine or health care main roles is to prevent this misordering or death, not the phenomenon of death itself. Death is inevitable phenomenon of living creatures, we as human have to consider and accept it.
Nowadays, there are severals phenomenon of the death:
- Most of people dying at the hospital, the incidence far more common than vehicle-accident.
- With the improve of medicine, we can easily know about the prognosis or survival rate of certain disease.
- Chronic unconscious patients are really conflicting whether he/she still alive or not.
- Euthanasia, medical approved death by patient's own will.
Those phenomenon that i described, maybe just a few of situations that occur around us related to death. In this article, i will described about death related to medicine.
Most of the patients with terminal disease or end-stage disease, will hear a story that they wouldn't have to hear that. They will be told about their illness conditions and prognosis, most of them are told about their life expectancy.
The common phrase "You would be die in 6 months."
I think that everyone will act about the same at first time, they know that they will die in short time. Knowing that death in coming in short time, put them into psychological stress.
Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a Swiss psychiatrist did landmark work with the terminally ill patient in the 1960's which resulted in the establishment of a "cycle" that she found each patient went through upon learning of their imminent death.
- The first reaction was shock. The universal first reaction to hearing the news was, "No."
- The second stage that quickly followed was denial. "This can't be happening to me."
- The third stage was anger. This anger was usually directed at God, nature, or luck, but needed to be understood by the family because it usually became directed at them at some point.
- The fourth stage was bargaining. The patient typically hoped that God would extend their life or cure them in exchange for promised behavior.
- The fifth stage was grieving. This is usually the longest lasting stage of the cycle and is marked by deep depression and mood changes.
- The final stage was acceptance. Once this stage is reached, the patient usually used whatever time remaining to "put their house in order." There was a marked peace in the patient's mood. Death was not a feared event.
Back to the begining of this article, death is phenomenon of living creature, we can't avoid, or decide to die in certain way (except suicide).
The concept of dying with dignity has established, and accepted, as the better way to treat or manage the patient with dignity. Maybe the disease can't cure, but the suffering has to be relieved.
The way to help the people to die with dignity, is begin by helping them to accept the death, by findings livings will, or main concern, and help them to find the solutions for their problems. If we can explore patients inner emotions, actually they aren't fear about the death, but they are worried about someone or something else that will be abandonned if he/she died.
Besides dealing in psychological supports, the disease also has to managed in order to relieve the suffering, such as pain-relief medications.
At the end of this article, i would like to say that people with terminal disease are very sensitive about the death issues, but caring them with love and passion help them to die with dignity.
