ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes dying and death in the cosmopolitan, modem setting. While patients and their loved ones are understandably concerned with the overriding question, "Is this dying or death?," the issue of dying is not an acceptable basis for conversations and interactions with physicians. Patients, families and physicians approach the experience of dying from sharply divergent perspectives. The former emphasizes the personal and social implications of dying, whereas physicians adopt a preeminently technical approach to their relationship with dying patients. As emphasized in the Preface, the styles and patterns of dying and death are reflective of the styles and patterns of life in a particular historical and cultural circumstance. By approaching the study of dying as a cultural and structural reflection of living, one can generate insights into both dying and living which are sensitive to the affirmation of the goodness and value of life for all human beings—healthy, disabled, sick, or dying.
