On death without dignity: The human impact of technological dying (Perspectives on death and dying series)

Candidly written, ""On Death Without Dignity: The Human Impact of Technological Dying"", attempts to re-humanize the inevitable biological occurrence called dying. It is Moller's view that through the advancement of medicalized technology, has come the demise of the contemporary dying process. The oncological death is reflected as failure in the part of modern medicine, the physician, and the hospital; yet the patient experiences alienation, stigma, helplessness, and normlessness. Yet as a culture the current societal approach to the dying-silent avoidance-only adds to this alienation. Society has failed to provide the necessary rules for this universal, social, and biological event. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 2 Copyright Page......Page 3 Dedication......Page 4 Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 8 Introductory Précis......Page 12 Contents......Page 16 Introduction......Page 18 Chapter 1: Technology, Meaning, and Death......Page 22 Meaning of death or death of meaning......Page 25 Chapter 2: Death and Denial in Modern America......Page 30 Chapter 3: Technological Medicine, The Technocratic Physician and Human Dying......Page 43 Chapter 4: Individualism, Fellowship, and Dying......Page 55 The non-communal environment......Page 56 Dying and loss of fellowship......Page 58 Chapter 5: Modern Dying and Social Organization of the Hospital......Page 66 The hospital as total institution......Page 69 Patient alienation within the hospital......Page 72 Chapter 6: The Stigma of Dying......Page 81 Identity problems: Beyond the looking-glass......Page 82 The stigma of dying: Scenarios of personal terror......Page 86 Sexuality and dying: Fertile ground for stigma......Page 91 As the new self emerges......Page 95 Chapter 7: Approaching Omega: The Roller Coaster of Dying......Page 100 The course of dying and societal forces......Page 103 Chapter 8: A Concluding Statement on Technology and the Social Isolation of Dying......Page 114 A Methodological Note......Page 121 Index......Page 126 Attempts to re-humanize the inevitable biological occurrence called dying. This book says that through the advancement of medicalized technology, has come the demise of the contemporary dying process. The oncological death is reflected as failure in the part of medicine, the physician, and the hospital. David Wendell Moller. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.