Medicalization In The Uk Essay
How has increasing medicalization in the UK changed the way we view death and why?
The term ‘medicalization’ defines the process that links a lot of life’s problems with medical problems. Prior to the medicalization of death in the nineteenth century, death was known to be a biological process, in which it was more communal than just personal. Death was usually accompanied by cultural practices such as restrictions and practices in clothing, food and ritual and these resulted in offering comfort and strength to both the dying person and their loved ones.
Medicalization began with improvements in medical technologies, it led to a better understanding of death i.e. the introduction of the stethoscope allowed us to determine the specific point …show more content…
In UK, this is due to the presence of NHS providing everyone comprehensive care free of charge, availability of doctors with specialist statuses, advance in medical technologies and availability of drugs, people often tend to see death as unacceptable and they seem to fight against it till the very end without caring about anything else. In some cases, death is also seen as way in which one can get out of their social and political responsibilities such as having to work, paying for several taxes and services, etc. This lead to the patients to trusting the medical staffs, especially the doctors to an extent that they would act as their priest, to cure their illness treating them as an innocent being; and lawyer, to free them from their normal responsibilities and probably support them with their insurance withdrawal. Due to this, the social life of the dying person also tends into change by having to give up on certain activities or habits that they usually enjoyed doing due to lack of tolerance with their medication or lack of time due to them having to spend more time in therapy and treatments. However, with the open awareness of their death, the dying person was more likely to prioritise and complete their personal responsibilities such as resolving personal conflicts or unfinished business or even spend their last couple
The term ‘medicalization’ defines the process that links a lot of life’s problems with medical problems. Prior to the medicalization of death in the nineteenth century, death was known to be a biological process, in which it was more communal than just personal. Death was usually accompanied by cultural practices such as restrictions and practices in clothing, food and ritual and these resulted in offering comfort and strength to both the dying person and their loved ones.
Medicalization began with improvements in medical technologies, it led to a better understanding of death i.e. the introduction of the stethoscope allowed us to determine the specific point …show more content…
In UK, this is due to the presence of NHS providing everyone comprehensive care free of charge, availability of doctors with specialist statuses, advance in medical technologies and availability of drugs, people often tend to see death as unacceptable and they seem to fight against it till the very end without caring about anything else. In some cases, death is also seen as way in which one can get out of their social and political responsibilities such as having to work, paying for several taxes and services, etc. This lead to the patients to trusting the medical staffs, especially the doctors to an extent that they would act as their priest, to cure their illness treating them as an innocent being; and lawyer, to free them from their normal responsibilities and probably support them with their insurance withdrawal. Due to this, the social life of the dying person also tends into change by having to give up on certain activities or habits that they usually enjoyed doing due to lack of tolerance with their medication or lack of time due to them having to spend more time in therapy and treatments. However, with the open awareness of their death, the dying person was more likely to prioritise and complete their personal responsibilities such as resolving personal conflicts or unfinished business or even spend their last couple