Facing death differently: revolutionising our approach to death and grief

The BMJ Pub Date : 2024-12-23 DOI:10.1136/bmj.q2815
Lucy Selman
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Abstract

Despite growing public interest in death, support for end-of-life care and bereavement remains inadequate. We urgently need a community centred, public health approach to the social processes of dying and grieving, backed by properly funded palliative care, writes Lucy Selman Over 600 000 people die each year in the UK,1 leaving more than six million grieving.2 On the surface, attitudes to death seem to be shifting: witness the rise of death and grief cafés,3 festivals and annual awareness events,4567891011 and the formation, in 2018, of a national association of end-of-life doulas.12 Television shows, films, and books about dying and grieving proliferate. A BBC video by the palliative care doctor, author, and activist Kathryn Mannix, “Dying is Not as Bad as You Think,” has had 145 000 views.13 But beneath the surface are major gaps in public knowledge and confidence around death, meaning that the practical, emotional, and spiritual wishes of dying people often remain unexpressed and unfulfilled. Meanwhile, futile medical interventions at the end of life persist as a global failure.14 Death is as natural a process as birth, yet much of society refuses to see it that way. This discomfort shows in our behaviour: we avoid seriously ill or bereaved people, and we shy away from discussing our own end-of-life wishes with family, friends, and health professionals. These attitudes are deeply intertwined with cultural and systemic issues, from harmful misconceptions about grief to the medicalisation of dying. Recent debates on assisted dying have put an intense spotlight on the failures of our attitudes towards, and systems for, end-of-life care and bereavement support, and the MP Rachael Maskell has announced a commission to improve palliative care. It’s a timely and vital move, but the commission must tackle the …
以不同的方式面对死亡:彻底改变我们对待死亡和悲伤的方式
尽管公众对死亡的兴趣越来越大,但对临终关怀和丧亲之痛的支持仍然不足。露西·塞尔曼写道:“我们迫切需要一种以社区为中心的公共卫生方法来处理死亡和悲伤的社会过程,并得到适当资助的姑息治疗的支持。英国每年有60多万人死亡,留下600多万人悲伤。从表面上看,人们对死亡的态度似乎正在发生变化:死亡和悲伤卡、节日和年度意识活动的兴起,以及2018年全国临终关怀协会的成立,都是见证关于死亡和悲伤的电视节目、电影和书籍层出不穷。英国广播公司播放了一段由缓和治疗医生、作家和活动家凯瑟琳·曼尼克斯制作的视频,“死亡并不像你想象的那么糟糕”,已经有145000次观看但在表面之下,公众对死亡的认识和信心存在重大差距,这意味着垂死之人的实际、情感和精神愿望往往得不到表达和实现。与此同时,在生命结束时,徒劳的医疗干预仍然是全球的失败死亡是一个和出生一样自然的过程,然而社会上很多人拒绝这样看待它。这种不适表现在我们的行为上:我们避开重病患者或失去亲人的人,我们回避与家人、朋友和卫生专业人员讨论自己的临终愿望。从对悲伤的有害误解到对死亡的医学化,这些态度与文化和系统问题深深交织在一起。最近关于协助死亡的辩论使人们强烈关注我们对临终关怀和丧亲支持的态度和系统的失败,国会议员雷切尔·马斯克尔(Rachael Maskell)宣布了一个改善姑息治疗的委员会。这是一个及时而重要的举措,但委员会必须解决……
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