Lesson 2: Thanatology and the Death System

Question 1

Thanatology

Answer 1

The study of death and the practices of societies and cultures that accompany it

Question 2

The components of the death system

Answer 2

people, places, times, objects, symbols, and imagery

Question 3

The functions of the death system

Answer 3

warnings and predictions, prevention, caring for the dying, disposing of the dead, consolidation after death, making sense of death, sanctioned killing, war, a deadly species, and sacrifice

Question 4

People

Answer 4

directly connected such as funeral directors, health care professionals, clergy, indirectly connected such as butcher selling meats or scientist creating weapons

Question 5

Objects

Answer 5

associated such as hearse, death certificate, coffin, noose, gallows, electric chair, unintended association such as cigarettes, over the counter drugs, alcohol, automobiles

Question 6

Places

Answer 6

hospitals, funeral homes, cemeteries, assassination sites, historical battlefields

Question 7

Symbols and Images

Answer 7

wearing black, slow solemn organ music, euphemisms such as passed on expired or went to their award, dysphemisms such as croaked, OD’d, bit the dust

Question 8

Times

Answer 8

9/11, day of the dead, memorial day, remembrance day

Question 9

Warnings and Predictions

Answer 9

society can choose to ignore or respond to warnings, alerts to personal threats, societal and global level

Question 10

Preventing Death

Answer 10

systems to prevent death medically, militarily, against natural disasters, war on death is selective, follows society’s general patterns of discrimination and unequal opportunity

Question 11

Caring for the Dying

Answer 11

some cases working for cures, some for comfort, when to move from treatment to care orientation

Question 12

Disposing of the Dead

Answer 12

from hospital to ritual to grave, preferences change with generations and cultures

Question 13

Social Consolidation After Death

Answer 13

meet challenges faced by individuals and society due to loss of member

Question 14

Making Sense of Death

Answer 14

offering comforting words or a way to reason or understand death, often superficial and limited to cliches

Question 15

Sanctioned Killing

Answer 15

execution practiced by many but not all cultures, English criminal law made death the punishment for an array of offenses but relatively few were actually executed, banned in some US states, others still allow hanging or firing squad, death penalty is the most obvious example of the death system as killer

Question 16

War

Answer 16

Natural and expected or preventable? have we become more deadly as we become more civilized, excessive risk of death to lower classes

Question 17

Mortality

Answer 17

deaths

Question 18

Morbidity

Answer 18

illness

Question 19

Life Expectancy

Answer 19

estimated number of remaining years in a persons life at a particular time

Question 20

Longevity

Answer 20

average number of years between birth and death

Question 21

Cause of Death

Answer 21

determined by physician and recorded on death certificate, 3 general categories: degenerative biological conditions, disease, socioenvironmental

Question 22

Mortality Rate

Answer 22

proportion of people who have died within a particular time period to the number of people within the population

Question 23

Crude Death rate

Answer 23

does not control for age, total number of deaths divided by number of people in population

Question 24

Age-standardized mortality rate

Answer 24

adjusted for age

Question 25

The Expected Quick Trajectory

Answer 25

time urgency, intense organization of treatment efforts, rapidly shifting expectations, volatile, sensitive staff-family interactions, staff efforts may depend on resources available and percieved value of the person (stereotypes)

Question 26

The Lingering Trajectory

Answer 26

slowly fading, staff focus on comfort, may be socially dead, patient not dead but not really alive, most typical pattern in Western society, especially in nursing homes, patient and family have time to prepare for death

Question 27

The Unexpected Quick Trajectory

Answer 27

4 types of unexpected quick trajectories: Pointed, danger period, crisis, will-probably-die, non-ER staff may be confused and panicked, may lead to institutional evasions by staff bypassing regulations to save a life, more emotion when patient was interesting case, physician tried hard to save, patient died from something they weren’t being treated for.

Question 28

Pointed Trajectory

Answer 28

patient exposed to very risky procedure, patient alert, staff have time to prepare

Question 29

Danger-Period Trajectory

Answer 29

patient not alert, questions of surviving a stressful experience

Question 30

Crisis Trajectory

Answer 30

patient not in acute danger, but life might be threatened at any moment

Question 31

Will-Probably-Die Trajectory

Answer 31

focus on comfort and waiting for death

Question 32

Life or Death Emergencies

Answer 32

Quick trajectory that happens in community setting, can cause panic, inappropriate action, misinterpreted situations, minimizing danger, bystanders preoccupied by own concerns, paramedics and EMT’s often involved

Question 33

Ethical guidelines for studying remains

Answer 33

Research should be conducted in consultation with people such as living relatives of the deceased, research should conform to all applicable state, federal, and international regulations regarding treatment of the dead, researchers should make the case that the deceased would have agreed to testing for that purpose.

Question 34

Improving Communication with Dying Individuals

Answer 34

be alert to symbolic and indirect communications, help make competent and effective behavior possible, allow dying person to set the pace and agenda, don’t confuse their values and goals with your own.

Question 35

Kubler Ross Stages of Dying

Answer 35

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance