Let’s Bring Dying Out of the Closet in 2012
Stan Massey - 01/03/2012
Happy New Year!
Time off during the holiday season combined with winter weather resulted in me watching even more TV and YouTube than normal. And I confirmed a disappointing conclusion.
It’s tough to find a taboo subject in America anymore. Nothing’s sacred. People willingly go in front of a video camera and talk about anything. Bad habits. Intimate details of their sex lives. Criminal activities. You name it…except for one glaring exception.
Perhaps the last remaining taboo in America is openly discussing death and dying. Many of us just don’t do it. Or we put it off until we’re proverbially at “death’s door.”
As hospice professionals, you see undesirable results of this avoidance every day. People who go on hospice care much, much later than they should have. Or, even worse, people who die in agony without turning to hospice care at all.
I understand the reluctance to talk about dying. It’s a downer. An admission of our own mortality. A real buzz kill. But it’s one of the most important passages of our entire lives. There are so many ways to do it wrong. And so much help available from professionals like you to do it right.
As we continue to educate our communities about hospice care in 2012, let’s rededicate ourselves to boldly breaking this lingering taboo. Let’s lovingly and compassionately encourage the discussion – about planning well ahead of life’s final months, and actively pursuing the ways to “die well.” And let’s do it in highly visible communications. That’s a great way to bring the conversation out of the closet.
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