Death can be isolating and dehumanizing. But what if it didn’t have to be?

02/21/24 at 03:00 AM

Death can be isolating and dehumanizing. But what if it didn’t have to be?
City Life, by Ben Seal; 2/17/24
... In the three years since Elaine’s passing, I’ve longed for a world where more people could be given the chance to die as she did — with the fullness of life surrounding her, and with complete support, emphasizing the emotional and spiritual, not just the medical. In Philadelphia and beyond, a growing community of death-care workers — doulas, nurses, grief counselors, social workers, even funeral directors — is trying to build that world. They are reclaiming death and dying from the institutional model that has become the norm over the past century. 
Editor's Note: Has hospice now become so institutionalized and medical/regulatory focused that we have lost sight of "emphasizing the emotional and spiritual, not just the medical"? I ask the question, but do not draw judgment, as answers must be contextualized. 

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