Horrendous Death: Linking Thanatology and Public Health

The Horrendous Death (HD) concept is a link between Thanatology and global public health. The ultimate outcome of the model is to eliminate Horrendous Death. The vitality of the concept in providing a purpose in life for the author—a health educator, husband and parent is described. This chapter explains the HD concept, and its relationship to individual and global health and well-being. HD provides a conceptual framework and motivation for the author's work as a health educator, citizen, and parent. It provides a philosophy that links past, present and future, and may contribute to one’s purpose in life. There is little mention of HD in the international and national health establishment’s official publications and statistics. The only HD-related data included in the World Health Statistics Manual are motor vehicle traffic accidents, and suicide and self-inflicted injury. Thanatology is the systematic study of death-related phenomena.