Preview

Death Definition Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2445 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Death Definition Essay
Death
For everyone they have their own definition of death, but for now we will focus on three; biblical, philosophical, and medical. In many religions each have something to say about death and how for some it isn’t the end. An example of this is in the Christian bible, “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46 ESV) (Robert Driskell). Christians have a deep faith in their religion and for them death is only a separation of their body and their soul will move unto the next stage which some hope is eternal life with Jesus. And in another example it from the bible it states the result of why people die, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
…show more content…
In the end, it is useful to think about death only to the point that it frees us to live fully immersed in the life we have yet to live.” (Jeff Mason) Death is just the ending of one’s life but it can be the beginning if you simply accept it and try to live as much as you can until your last breath. Now in medical terms defining death is explained more in a calculating and confident manner. For many doctors and coroner’s death is a natural reaction that happens and usually is caused by a number of factors such as, “the cessation of all vital functions of the body including the heartbeat, brain activity (including the brain stem), and breathing.”(The Free Dictionary by Farlex) When a person dies there is a usually protocol that needs to be completed before someone can be fully determined dead and they can often lead to a coroner for an autopsy report. A coroner is usually the last stop for body before it is sent off for his/hers funeral…. Defining death is a difficult task for many, especially for biblical, philosophical, and medical specialist although that doesn’t stop them from trying to somewhat …show more content…
Death can be a hard thing since, “Despite the gamut of emotions we feel, grieving for a loved one helps us cope and heal. The intense, heart-breaking anguish indicates that a deep connection has been severed. Without a doubt, grieving is painful. But it is also necessary.”(Patricia Johnson) Even though the journey has ended for another it doesn’t mean that the other person should also give up. Death affects everyone differently but one common similarity from it is that time is needed for the pain to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Nvq 3 Nursing Care Unit 81

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The stages of dying, much like the stages of grief, may overlap, and the duration of any stage may range from as little as a few hours to as long as months. The process varies from…

    • 1437 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Theories surrounding the understanding and meaning of death tend to focus on either religion or medicine. Religious attitudes to death are more abstract, while the medical world attempts to separate the living from the dead and the ill from the healthy, providing rationality in the face of demise (Seale 1998, p. 75). Seale (1998, p. 76) describes religion as a means of relieving death anxiety for the living; explaining that those who believe in an afterlife have a less dramatic relationship with death. Harding, Flannelly, Weaver and Costa (2005, p. 253) substantiate this idea with findings that show significantly less death anxiety and considerably more death acceptance amongst religious groups. Moreover Freud (cited in Koenig, 2001, p. 98) sates that “only religion can give meaning to life”. In contrast Seale (1998, p. 75) explains the medicinal outlook on death in two distinct veins, the first being the “best hope” for those who are suffering and are close to death and the second being a “reasonable account” for why all people must die. In addition Seale (1998, p. 77) places medicine and death in direct opposition stating that medicine seeks to cure the “natural death”. Contrastingly, Zola (2011, p. 487) states that the role of medicine within death is not concerned with saving lives, but instead with the controlling of terminally ill or elderly patients. This thought is ripe throughout work surrounding palliative care (see Conrad 1992), however some scholars see the implementation of medical care as simply providing support for those on the verge of passing (Zimmerman & Rodin, 2004, p. 122). In summary, both religious and medicinal approaches to understanding death by the living are still both extremely popular, however the array of works which document…

    • 1519 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    James L. Bernat

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When the deaths appear on the living organism? When the brain stops function and stop supporting the rest of the organs in the body. If the death is not sadden because of the heart stops, but become because of the brain function stop, than it’s requires defining the reason and testing the brain of proof non functions. I am taking the side of James L. Bernat. The reason is he provides such of evidence of the meaning “death” on human body. “In the pretechnological era, physicians and philosophers did not have to consider whether a human being who had lost certain “viral functions” but had retained others was alive, because such cases were technically impossible”. What he wants to say is with the evolution of the new medicine and technology now people with brain dead can the body be kept function with mechanical support and still will not be consider as death.…

    • 326 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Have you ever woken up in the morning ready to work and you get a phone call saying that one of your loved ones has died? Death is something unexpected, no one ever knows when the time is going to come for them. Facing death definitely adds value to life because you realize things that weren't relevant to you before; this helps you determine how to live for the rest of your life. Cherishing moments with your family are the best memories to take with you before your ending.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Death is a personal event that man cannot describe for himself. As far back as we can tell, man has been both intrigued by death and fearful of it; he has been motivated to seek answers to the mystery and to seek solutions to his anxiety. Every known culture has provided some answer to the meaning of death; for death, like birth or marriage, is universally regarded as a socially significant…

    • 5729 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Out of Body Experiences

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The common definition of death is a moment in which a person is either dead or alive (time.com). The professional definition of death is when the heart stops beating, the lungs stop breathing, and the brain stops all function (time.com). There are many different names of out of body experiences such as AWARE, OOBE/OBE, SCA, and NDE, but they all are the same thing or closely relate to each other. NDE is when something happens while the body is almost or is dead. SCA is the cause of almost all out of body experiences. During Sudden Cardiac Arrest the brain stops getting blood therefore after about ten seconds the brain stops functioning. Without brain activity the body can no longer remain conscience. Most researchers question the fact that if he patient was brain-dead no just dead (James 4). AWARE occurs when a patient with no brain activity remains…

    • 944 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life After Death Essay

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Of all human stages of development and transition, none of them has profound effect and overwhelming disturbance as death. The surviving members of the deceased’s family and other close loved ones are always at a loss and the grieving that ensues thereafter is of untold emotional torment (Sherman et al., 2003). On the spiritual perspective, death is mourned with the recluse and thought of continuance of life after death. Death is increasingly being viewed as a rite of passage and is not a finality as previously perceived in the preceding ages of our current generations. However, this perspective is speculative in nature for there is no living human being that has marched on with the personal study of the afterlife and come back to life in human…

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Life and Death Overtakes

    • 2374 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Death is a dreaded word. It is a word that many people would not want to talk about. Death is considered a morbid word and many would not find this as an engaging topic. According to Patricelli (2007), “[d]eath remains a great mystery, one of the central issues with which religion and philosophy and science have wrestled since the beginning of human history. Even though dying is a natural part of existence, American culture is unique in the extent to which death is viewed as a taboo topic. Rather than having open discussions, we tend to view death as a feared enemy that can and should be defeated by modern medicine and machines”. There are also people that have negative connotations about death, rendering life even meaningless because of it. Death appears to render life meaningless for many people because they feel that there is no point in developing character or increasing knowledge if our progress is ultimately going to be thwarted by death (Augustine, 2000). But the author contends that there is a point in developing character and increasing knowledge before death overtakes us: to provide peace of mind and intellectual satisfaction to our lives and to the lives of those we care about for their own sake because pursuing these goals enriches our lives. From the fact that death is inevitable it does not follow that nothing we do matters now. On the contrary, our lives matter a great deal to us. If they did not, we would not find the idea of our own death so distressing--it wouldn't matter that our lives will come to an end. The fact that we're all eventually going to die has no relevance to whether our activities are worthwhile in the here and now: For an ill patient in a hospital a doctor's efforts to alleviate pain certainly does matter despite the fact that 'in the end' both the doctor and the patient will be dead (Augustine).…

    • 2374 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Average Funeral Cost

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Death is never convenient. You are never ready to lose a loved one. It’s one of those difficult things in life you simply cannot prepare for.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Wit the Movie

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages

    What constitutes a good death? Many people have had many different ideas and opinions that can vary on the subject matter of dying and dying with dignity. Julia Nueberger, the author of book Dying Well says many people believe that “the good death is pain free” (Nueberger 2004). What I know about dealing with death is that many people fear what may come and of course the unknown. When faced with dying, many different emotions can come about that you would have never thought about before you had to face dying. Many people go through the different stages of death such as denial or anger for example. Even the smartest and most intellectual people can misunderstand death and what it means to die well or what it means to die with dignity. I like it best the way Dr. Ira Byock, looks at dying with dignity and the need for care at the end of life as he states “the need for care is not undignified; it’s just human” (Byock, 2010).…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some people might say that there is no life after death or that once we are dead everything from our life is gone. This is completely wrong. Our death should reflect our life. Yes, death is inevitable. It is one of the only sure things in life. The thing that should matter is that we need to live our life as if any moment our precious life could be over. Life can be long or short, we need to live it to the fullest, and expect it at any time. Every person on this planet will die at one time but it is what we do during our life that will keep our life living forever in the people we affected.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Buddhism does not look at death as a continuation of the soul but as an awakening. Dying and being reborn has been compared by some Buddhist as a candle flame. When the flame of one lit candle is touched to the wick of an unlighted candle, the light passes from one…

    • 1109 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Facing Mortality

    • 2565 Words
    • 11 Pages

    First I am going to give a little bit of overview about how people other than myself feel about death and what they think death really is. “The word death comes from Old English deað, which in turn comes from Proto-Germanic *dauþaz (reconstructed by etymological analysis). This comes from the Proto-Indo-European stem *dheu- meaning the 'Process, act, condition of dying'.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death) There are also said to be many different processes that actually consider someone dead. Physiological death is seen as a process not just an event. In this process there is a dividing line between life and death that depends on factors beyond the presence or absence of vital signs. Clinical death is not necessary or sufficient for a determination of legal death. Someone that has a working heart and lungs determined to be brain dead can be pronounced legally dead without clinical death occurring. The medical definition of death becomes more problematic, paradoxically, as scientific knowledge and medicine advance. There are also different signs of death or strong indications that a person is no longer alive such as cessation of breathing, cardiac arrest, pallor mortis, livor mortis, algor mortis, rigor mortis, and decomposition. Cardiac arrest is having no pulse, pallor mortis is paleness which happens in the 15-120 minutes after death, livor mortis is a settling of the blood in the lower portion of the body, algor mortis is the reduction in body…

    • 2565 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pain of Losing Someone

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Moments of grief are experienced by one and all. Hardly few people can ever claim to have not experienced this feeling at all. The issue to be tackled here is how soon we can get over with those…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My Mother and Her Sister

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Losing a sister or a parent is very difficult to come to terms with, and death itself may even put your own life in perspective. It can make people wonder if what they have done with their lives is what they wanted to do. Did they live their lives fully, did they go the places they wanted to go, see the things they wanted to see?…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics