THE STUDY OF DYING

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 100, 22 January 1927, Page 24

THE STUDY OF DYING

REMOVING THE FEARS OF THE END

'.w! The importance of death is almost 1 “(always exaggerated (writes a medical contributor in the London “Observer”). ;£;Yet the final hours of any man’s life , "(must always be resnected by people of it is said that even (ho ,criminal is'allowed to choose his last ■.. (breakfast —and those who have passed human jijd demand a service ;X;.wholly devoted to their comfort. Hence (-•it is natural to recoil from the sugges- . lion advanced by an American psycholo.l.gist. in a recent “Laneet." that the ("Wetlical profession should undertake “a '.'.Z systematic and scientific study of the ('“dying hour.’’ I- Nevertheless the proposal has some- ... thing io recommend it. Statistical in- ’ ’formation about the average manner of ;“'.death is not available, and it is conpy pci ruble, as Dr. Arthur MacDonald sug;”pests, tl * lilfc as a °f the knowledge ( —gainod in such a study tho treatement “’-Ibf tho dying might lie made more delir.cate and more humane. He recommends that every medical fociety should encourage its members to ;„’„ftudy the psychology and physiology of '"•death whenever there is a suitable op--I””'portunity. ITe would have them note i'Ttlio manner of death in different dis:,j.pascs, the time it takes, and the pereen;~jage of patients who remain conscious ‘f-.fo tho end. H«’ suggests that they should observe the attitude of mind an(parent as death draws near, and should record whether pain is felt or not. (C! Bv those and other observations, taken ('.'“with instruments of precosion where (“possible," he believes that a general pictu.ro of the dying hour could bo presented which would bo of guidance in (.“ treatment. “Finally,” he pays, “the i...knowledge of the dying time may ho ;(2fo increased that physical death will • cease to he feared or dreaded by all IT persons, since through such knowledge pain may be practically eliminated and death may be made easy, gentle, and : ;„'placi cl." (TJ The Doctor's Task. But it may be asked: Ts there any ■ "-room for improvement in t[ie treatment ' . of the dying as nowadays practised. ’■’.lt must be admitted (hat there is. Hardly any of a doctor’s duties is so -trying as the management of a dying ■ "patient, and such cases are only dealt iCwith really well by people with symi.'ipathy, tact, and judgment. - These qualities are conspicuous in a number of general practitioners, ““.’whose handling of particular situations arise is far better than what ••could be recommended by any number -of investigators. But it is experience ■ 'that has made then efficien t. Iho young .. doctor, unused to the delicate management of households, may find the prob•Jem of the hopeless case exceedingly ' difficult, more especially as he is often *loo unwilling to acknowledge defeat by T'lho forces pf disease. Students me ■ rarely given lectures on the management, of . incurable cases, and; it would certainly bo useful .to keep constantly

before them (he “picture of the dying hour” suggested bv Dr. MacDonald. Consciousness and Pain, There are. however, hundreds or thousands of doctors who arc competent to give such instructions from their own experience, and there seems to be no need to start a systematic investigation simply in order to disseminate information about palliative treatment. The proposed investigation might lead to increased publicity and professional interest in the events of dying, but it is very doubtful whether it would bring about tho use of remedies or methods previously unknown, whilst the opinions of in.dividual doctors —and patients—on (he desirability of prolonging a losing battle vary so widely Hint it would be hard to lay down any rules. There is not the slightest fear that modern general practitioners would •▼V go in for any kind of research — with instruments of precision or etherwise—which might inflict th? slightest nnecdssary discomfort on their patients. They do not belong to (he medieval school of scientists who kept their dying victims (n a balance so as to determine the weight of the departing souls. On the other hand, many of them would be willing to send in data about anxiety, consciousness, pain, and the like, which might bo of grout interest, and the results of such an inquiry would probably he rend bv the public with pleasant surprise. Fear and Death. As Dr. Barkes Weber has pointed out in his remarkable book, ’’Aspects of Death,” civilised man is probably the only animal that knows that bo must dies and there is no doubt that in general he strongly resents this limitation. But many eminent physicians who have written on this theme have been very reassuring. “If T had strength to Hold a pen," said William Hunter on lis deathbed, “I would write h°w easy and pleasant a thing it is to die.” The much-advertised agony of death is. in fact, almoswt a chimera. “Of tho great number to whom it. has been my painful professional dutv to have administered in the last hours of then’ lives," wrote Sir Henry Halford, "i have sometimes felt surprised that to few have appeared reluctant to go to 'the undiscovered country from which no traveller returns.’” Doets and priests, physicians a.nd philosophers reinforce each other’s testimony to the ease of death. But if the ghost of Fear can .only be kil l by a "systematic and scientific study ’ of dying, on tho American plan, then by nil means let us have it. Perhaps if all were, known w r o should agree with Edmund Spenser:— Unwise and wretched men, to ueetc what’s good or ill. Wc deeme of Death as doome of ill desert.;! . , • But knew we, foolqs, wliat.it us bj-inges until. Dye would bo dayly, once it to expert.