BMJ  2003;327:218-220 (26 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.327.7408.218

Education and debate

Historical and cultural variants on the good death

Tony Walter, reader in sociology1

1 Department of Sociology, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AA j.a.walter@reading.ac.uk

Dominated by religion in the past and by medicine in the present: the idea of what constitutes a good death has changed in different cultures and societies throughout history, perhaps nowhere more so than in our globalised, Western cultures. After a period of individualisation, shared experiences with fellow sufferers now seem to be increasing in popularity

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Here is an account of the death of a French peasant in the 19th century:

"She contracted a summer cholera. After four days she asked to see the village priest, who came and wanted to give her the last rites. 'Not yet, M. le curé; I'll let you know when the time comes.' Two days later: 'Go and tell M. le curé to bring me Extreme Unction.' "1

This woman died a good death according to the lights of her society, but this is very different from the good death of modern Western societies. Firstly, she wanted to see the priest, not the doctor; today, dying is ruled not by religion but by medicine. Secondly, she died in a local community in which everyone knew their script; today, palliative care encourages individuals to write their own scripts for dying, as they do for living. Thirdly, the ars moriendi of her . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Heath, I. (2009). Memento mori. InnovAiT 2: 503-504 [Full text]  
  • Hendrickson, K., McCorkle, R. (2008). A Dimensional Analysis of the Concept: Good Death of a Child With Cancer. Journal of Pediatric Oncology Nursing 25: 127-138 [Abstract]  
  • Gunaratnam, Y. (2008). Towards multi-sensory research: acoustic space, racialisation and whiteness. Journal of Research in Nursing 13: 113-122 [Abstract]  
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