Care of the dying and the bereaved

Abstract

Human life is finite and dying and death is the ultimate end of all living things, yet it is a subject frequently and easily avoided in thought and conversation. Western societies have tended to dispense with former customs and rituals regarding death and bereavement. In Victorian England most people died in their own homes surrounded by family and friends. At that time in upper and middle social classes the family and household retainers attended elaborate funerals and wore mourning for many months, identifying their need for quiet seclusion from society. Apart from the poor and the vagrants who died in Poor Law institutions, there were relatively few people admitted to hospital, and therefore few died in acute hospitals. From the mid-twentieth century hospitals in the UK increased in number, and in size. As scientific advances made intricate treatment possible, acute wards in general hospitals have become busier, with complex activities throughout the twenty-four hours, and very little peace and privacy for the terminally ill and their relatives.