ABSTRACT
It is sometimes said that sudden death is the ‘best way to go’ but it can be very hard on close family and friends because it gives them no time to prepare. Consider the alternative of a protracted death from the dying person’s point of view, however. While it may provide others with the opportunity to prepare themselves for their loss, the dying person encounters what for some can be the hardest of tasks: facing one’s own death. Knowing that you are dying, especially if you have not yet come to terms with it, is hard enough. It can be made even harder if those around maintain a conspiracy of silence, so that the dying person feels shut out and even more isolated.
