Tag: death

¿Cómo superar el duelo? Mi experiencia personal

This story describes the narrator’s struggle with grief after the death of her partner in a car crash. Her persistent questions of “why did this have to happen” and “why did they deserve this” led to depression, barely getting out of bed, and friends noticing changes in personality. When she finally left her house, the fresh air convinced her to see a psychologist. She concludes that the pain never goes completely away but becomes less paralyzing over time.

At 1.5-2 pages, this is appropriate for upper intermediate Spanish learners or a community group to discuss bereavement and how therapy can help. Placement within a website that promotes therapy does forecast that therapy is the answer to problems.

Narratives of prevention and redemption in opioid overdose obituaries

This journal article could be used as an example of social scientific study of naturally-occurring health narratives: those found in obituaries, an uncommon source to look for stories of opioid overdose. Raises topics of how overdose and other stigmatized health conditions are (and are not) discussed; might be combined with a literary account of addiction to show humanities vs social science understandings of a phenomenon.

Abstract: Obituaries of people who died from an opioid overdose represent a new territory for understanding cultural narratives of the US opioid epidemic. Drawing on textual analysis of 30 opioid overdose obituaries published on Legacy.com between 2015 and 2020, we describe a prototypical narrative conveyed through opioid overdose obituaries, which renders symbolic meaning through the voices of the bereaved. Obituary authors reimagine their subjects as tragic heroes and reconstitute opioid addiction as a curse, plight or affliction that befalls its victims. Many of these obituaries invoke the language of public health, calling for reform, action or general awareness so other families might avoid the havoc and heartbreak of opioid addiction. We argue that obituaries contribute to broader cultural narratives of opioid addiction by reproducing tragic storylines, vindicating and humanising the deceased, framing opioid addiction as a societal, rather than individual, problem, and medicalising addiction as a brain disease beyond a persons control. Obituary texts thus intertwine a personal story with a broader societal health crisis, transforming stories of the deceased into cautionary tales and public health warnings.Data are available upon request.

Wake Me up When September Ends

The hit single “Wake Me up When September Ends” was written by Billie Joe Armstrong about his father who died from esophageal cancer when Armstrong was 10 years old. This popular song illustrates a health storyline that is likely overlooked by many casual listeners. Listening to the song, paying close attention to the words, could open discussion of grief and loss.

The Weight of the Soul

“The Weight of the Soul” is a poem written by physician and poet Jack Coulehan. It refers to an experiment run in 1901 to measure the weight of the human soul by weighing a body before and after death to conclude that the departed soul weighed 21 grams. Coulehan concludes that it is humbling to hold less than an ounce of soul, and he hopes that it is enough in the end. This poem prompts reflection on the meaning of life and death, what can be known from scientific data and what cannot.

Un último acto de amabilidad íntima

Michelle Friedman describes providing home care for her estranged younger brother as he dies from advanced pancreatic cancer. She touches on difficult topics of conversation, her brother’s depression, and grappling with death and religion.

An English language translation of this essay is available under the title, “A last act of intimate kindness.”

Meditating on Death

80 minute podcast that discusses Buddhist notions of death and dying. Emphasis is on being happy about life, noticing its impermanence and questioning the value of always seeking more (money, time, status, things). Provides a detailed contrast point to Western perspectives that could be comforting, reassuring or simply intriguing for a discussion of death and dying.

Fae Kayarian: Physician in Training, Poet in Progress

Fae Kayarian is a poet and medical student who began as a scribe at Harvard Medical School. She has shared her experiences through poetry in the form of an autobiography titled “Journals of a Visitor” and several stand-alone poems. Her website contains eight poems ranging in topics in medicine from her point of view as a bystander and now a student.

Generally useful for close reading of poetry. Two poems – “The Color Blue” and “It’s been six years” could interest families of patients experiencing loss and dementia. Others would be beneficial for teaching physicians and other health professionals in mentor positions. Her poetry would serve as a reminder of what it’s like to be a student and the impact that medical educators have on the future of medicine as mentors.

Love Sorrow Self Portrait

“Love Sorrow Self Portrait” is a self-portrait series the photographer, Natalie Brescia, has created to reflect her experience of major depressive disorder. The pieces frequently show her in shadow, and use split bisected frames with stark black and white contrasts so experience the nature of her emotions and a fractured sense of self. There are also thread and scissor images that Brescia says evoke the Greek mythology of the Fates with the compromising position of the scissors representing the closeness of death.

The series of images does suggest a narrative thread, and could prompt discussion of how narrative can be conveyed in images. The images also prompt discussion about the experience of mental illness and the ways words may fall short of conveying it.

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

A contemplation of the limits of medical care through many specific stories of decision points about when to stop treatment in favor of palliative care. Gawande has been a physician for a long time and an activist/ writer on the side of “know when to say when” – i.e. just because medical technology exists to prolong life doesn’t mean that’s the best thing to do – for almost as long. He makes convincing cases for stopping expensive treatment and “giving life to days” more often than Hail Mary passes that might bring on the 2% chance of a cure.

The book is a readily accessibe read for many audiences and could be assigned in full or excerpted. It was also the subject of a PBS documentory that could be used to supplement class use and bring the text to life.

A last act of intimate kindness

“I had barely seen my brother in decades, but when time was short, he let me in.” In the “Modern Love” section of the NYT, a woman describes the tenderness and connection of caring for a younger brother she was mostly estranged from through his death from cancer. She’s surprised at how positive and touching it is to reconnect with him under such difficult circumstances.

The story could be used to prompt discussion of end-of-life care. The brother declines aggressive treatment and his sister is with him when he dies at home.

This narrative is also available in Spanish under the title, “Un último acto de amabilidad íntima.”