End of Life Care in Western Society: Preparing for Death

Throughout recorded history and in all cultures, the need to survive has been widely considered to be the instinct most fundamental to all human beings. But our acceptance of this as a law of nature confronts us all with a dilemma: How can we give up the pursuit of ongoing life and prepare for death? In an age of dwindling belief in an afterlife coupled with increasing longevity, health policy managers and private individuals alike are regularly confronted with this paradox. The experience of the participants in this research who met death with acceptance shows how these incompatible propositions can be reconciled.