Developmental Psychology

11.4 Bereavement and Grief Bereavement is the term used to define the state of feeling deprived of another human after their death. Greif and bereavement usually coincide with one another. Grief usually means that there is a complex physical and even an emotional response after someone passes away. Some people will have a feeling of being lonely, and empty. Some may experience numb and go through extreme fatigue. All of these can have a psychological and physical effect on a person. Not one single person will grieve the same, and there is no set time period for a person to grieve. They may days, months, even years. When a person mourns the death of another, this is the personal reactions to bereavements. These are influenced by a person’s culture. Different cultures have different ways of reacting to someone’s death. Here are some examples below. • Honoring the life and death of someone who has passed away • Socially approving the way they handle grief • Having emotional support for those who are mourning • Finding a way to redefine the life of the person who is deceased without them being present Some people have a very difficult time coming to terms with the way a person has died. Especially if the death is premature. Here are some examples of when a death may be hard to comprehend. • Sudden deaths such as car accidents • Premature deaths such as an infant dying or a child • Stigmatized death such as dying due to suicide or due to a hate crime 11.5 Right to Die and Euthanasia There has been a new issue that has come to light in recent years. This has become an ethical conundrum for medical professionals in regard to ethics. The issue…someone’s right to die. Especially if a person is battling an illness that cannot be cured, and treatment has ceased. Assisted suicides have and still are controversial among medical professionals such as doctors, caregivers and even the patient. There was a lawsuit involving an individual by the name of Dr. Kevorkian. This lawsuit actually created more controversary of the issue Oregon is the only state within the United States that will allow for assisted suicides by a medical professional. Later in life more and more medical professionals ask if individuals have an advanced directive or living will that will help in the process after a person dies. These documents usually state the induvial wishes and gives the person who is charged with their care the right tomake decisions for themThese documents also state whether or not a person wants to be receive CPR or have any other heroic methods used to keep them alive, or to let them die.

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