Image by Kenny Orr via Unsplash
While American ideals and views continue to evolve in important ways, the needle remains relatively stagnant on shifting our view of death. Death is inevitable for all of us, but American culture has long been one in which the discussion of dying is taboo. Our “death-denying” culture, as Ernest Becker coined in the publication of “The Denial of Death”, impacts every aspect of how we view dying, including how we speak about death, how we react to death, and even how we explain death to children. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has raised the specter of dying alone, as even family members were prohibited from visiting those who were seriously ill with the virus. Now, Americans are grappling with the truth: death is inevitable, random, and very real.
Dr. Marianne Matzo, PhD, FAAN, is a registered nurse and gerontologist who knows this history and our culture’s struggles with embracing our own mortality. She has been a hospice and palliative care nurse, spending much of her career being with people who are facing death or actively dying, supporting their families, and training nurses and physicians in the best practices in end of life care. On this podcast, Dr. Diana Mason, PhD, RN, host of this program, speaks with Dr. Matzo about her efforts to make it easier to talk about death and to care for those who are dying.
This interview first aired on HealthCetera in the Catskills on WIOX Radio on June 2, 2021.
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