Modern Views of Death are Unrealistic

As society has progressed, medical advances have given us unrealistic expectations for prolonging life and we have distanced ourselves from the concept of death. Often, if there is any remaining option for medical treatment, families will not let loved ones go even if they are suffering immensely throughout treatment. Some propose that modern medicine actually does more to complicate the end of life than to prolong or improve it.

Society’s move from urban atmospheres to the city has resulted in less exposure to death. People get their chicken from a store instead of actually catching the chicken to slaughter for dinner. Families no longer live together in multiple generations where younger members witness the aging and suffering of older generations in the family. Family members closest to a suffering family member are more willing to let them go if they have witnessed the extent of their pain.

The unrealistic expectations from medical advances, the increase in life expectancies and people’s distance from death now makes people less likely to perceive how suffering might outweigh the inevitable result of death. At a certain stage, continued medical treatment can become torturous and it could be better to cease expensive medical treatments that cause nothing but pain.

See Craig Bowren, Our Unrealistic Attitudes About Death, Through A Doctor’s Eyes, The Washington Post, Feb. 17, 2012. 

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (GWU Law School, John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.