HW 49- Comments on Your Best Break HW

To Ben,

It's interesting that you mentioned when you interviewed both your mother and father that after hearing death they thought of after death and what may have happened to relatives that died. Through the assignments over break I also thought about after death and many of the people I interviewed including myself believe that if people had some place to look forward to after life they would not be so afraid of death. I do believe that people have different opinions about death based on their beliefs. I enjoyed reading this post.

To Megumi,

Your post was very interesting because I also agree that a social norm in our society is that funerals should be depressing but if everyone is going to die one day death should not be something we mourn. I have not decided how I want to die because it's difficult to decide if I would like to be cremated or donate my organs but hopefully by the end of this unit I will decide. A question I have for you is: Do you think religion is the only determining factor for the way we want to die?

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

From Ben,

The broad variety of opinions that are in this post is what made this especially interesting for me. It seems like some of the people you interviewed made their decisions in large part based on their religion, where others did not. One of the quotes that inspired the most thought for me was, "Dying freaks me out more than dead bodies because while death can happen at any unpredictable time, I know eventually I'm going to end up dead." This seems to be the reason that I (and probably many others as well) do not think about care of the dead as much; the concept of death pretty much overshadows everything that comes after it, as far as human life is concerned. This is kind of unfortunate, because the way that cadavers are dealt with can be beneficial for many people. Your post did a great job getting me thinking, good job.

From Megumi,

I found these perspectives on caring for the dead were very interesting and thought-provacative. I also thought you did a good job analyzing these interviewees. One line I found insightful was, "...if people understood the promise of heaven and if they knew it was a place they would be going they would no longer be afraid about death." Though I don't have a clear opinon/belief around afterdeath and heaven I think this is one of the reasons why I fear death. If I had a certainty that nothing negative will happen when I die, than my fear wouldn't be that serious.

From Angela (Younger Reader),

I found these perspective for caring for dead were interesting.I liked that you read threw the interviewees. Nice Job. One line that I liked was the line that said"if people understood the promise of heaven and if they knew it was a place they would be going would no longer be afraid of death ."

From my Mom ,

I think it's interesting that you mentioned the fact that dead bodies are preserved by putting make up on the dead and trying to make them look as alive as possible. I wonder of in some way we are in denial about the whole thing and don't truly understand what death is. I believe that when you die, you die. Death is not something you should fear if you have some idea of where you are going but after death your physical body has no life. I really enjoyed this post.

HW 50 - First Third of Care-of-the-Dead Book Post

Stiff by Mary Roach

Precis:

The title of the chapter is “A head is a terrible thing to waste.” An important principle we have always been taught is to have respect for the dead. Cadavers (parts of the human body used for dissection) are used for surgical procedures such as face lifts, nose jobs, and other cosmetic surgeries. The chapter also gives the history of human bodies regarding the poor being exploited at research hospitals, when the first dissections took place, and doctor’s experiences with surgery.

Quotes:

“The surgeons don’t seem queasy or repulsed, though Theresa told me later that one of them had to leave the room. “They hate it,” she says. “It” meaning working with heads. I sense from them only a mild discomfort with their task. As I stop at their tables to watch, they turn to me with a vaguely irritated, embarrassed look. You’ve seen that look if you make a habit of entering bathrooms without knocking. The look says, please go away.” (Stiff, Pg. 23).

“I was surprised to learn that even when surgeons are in residencies, they aren’t typically given an opportunity to practice operations on donated cadavers” (Stiff, Pg. 27).

“Without exception, the only people who checked themselves in at teaching hospitals were those too poor to pay for private surgery” (Stiff, Pg. 30).

“They should probably just ask for permission: According to New England Journal of Medicine study on the subject, 73 percent of parents of newly dead children, when asked, gave consent to use their child’s body for teaching intubation skills” (Stiff, Pg. 32).

“The far more common tactic was to sneak into a graveyard and dig up someone else’s relative to stuffy. The act became known as body snatching” (Stiff, Pg. 43).

Analytical Paragraph:

The beginning of the book presented information about a human head then used that to describe that she was looking at an actual head. It was interesting that when Mary was looking around at the different tables while people were dissecting faces, the surgeons were giving her dirty looks because they obviously felt uncomfortable with her seeing them handle heads. It’s ironic that the woman cutting off people’s heads was the one that gave her the most trouble when she was simply looking for information about the nature of their work. An idea that was also presented in the book was the issue of consent. I think that if there was a form where you were allowed to indicate whether or not your remains were donated after your burial it would make things much easier. Even if they are dead you have to consider what they would have wanted if they were alive. I thought the dead were respected but people were paid to dig up bodies for research studies, and body snatching was an actual crime. I did not know or even think about it before.

HW 48 Family Perspectives on the Care of the Dead

After interviewing my uncle about his opinions of the dead he revealed that he would like to be cremated and sprinkled in a beach where his grandmother’s ashes were sprinkled. My uncle believes that funerals are a tradition and this is a dominant model presented in our society. There is a problem with this dominant model regarding death because it has made people believe that death is something we need to mourn but death happens to everyone so it should not be a depressing day.

After interviewing my mother about her beliefs on the care of the dead she expressed to me that the care of the dead is different if you are Christian or non-Christian. My mother said that if they are Christian it’s different because everyone will be celebrating their homecoming because hopefully they will be going to heaven. Dead bodies are not important anymore because when you die, you die either you go to hell or heaven. Funerals are a tradition used to celebrate the person that once lived. There is nothing wrong with reflecting on someone’s life and their accomplishments while living.

Both my mother and uncle agree that the dominant model presented is that we have funerals to reflect on the person that once lived. Something I never thought about before interviewing my friends and family members is the way I would like to be buried when I die one day. Before these interviews I never considered that question and wanted my family to make the decision for me. I would like to be cremated because it is a waste of space to be buried when there are buildings that could be built where cemeteries are. My family created the function that funerals mean that you are celebrating the life of the person who died and know that they are going to a better place. This is different for every person because other families may have different religious beliefs or no religion at all.

HW 47 Interviews "Please Comment on this one"

When asking people about their perspectives with birth I asked them about how dead people are regarded in our society, any rituals their family practices with the care of the dead, how they would like to be buried and their personal opinion about death.

Interviewee #1

The dead are respected to a certain extent. There are laws forbidding people from digging up dead bodies, and even in hospitals they need consent before they can take an organ from a patient.

Interviewee #2

I have never seen a dead body. I have been told to stay away if possible. I wasn’t allowed too close to graves because they were said to have bad luck. We pay our respects to the dead by offering food and burning special paper. The special paper is regarded as money for the dead people. When I die I would like to be buried in a coffin.

Interviewee #3

The dead should be put to rest with dignity. In my culture like most others they dress them up and many of their family members gather to pay their respects. I feel that if everyone was saved and we held onto the promise of heaven then we would be able to cope with losing a loved one and then maybe we won’t feel like we have to take part in these kinds of ceremonies (funerals). When I die I would lie to be cremated. Sometimes I feel that we have so many graveyards and we should instead build things to help those that are still living.

Interviewee #4
I think the social norms in the U.S are mostly funerals and burials. My family doesn’t really discuss about caring for the dead, so I'm not too sure about their perspectives. I don't find caskets or anything else expensive necessary and I wouldn't want anyone spending so much money on my body after I'm dead. Dead bodies/death itself scares me but I understand that it is a normal, natural process we can't avoid. I don't care what's done to my body as long as it’s not an expensive process and if parts of my body can be donated to help those who need it (like a heart transplant) that would be great.

Interviewee #5
I think a lot of people are very obsessive over the afterlife and a lot of believe want to believe that their is something after death because just turning into nothingness is a pretty depressing thought. It's pretty ironic how so many people want to make such a big deal over people's death such as holding wakes and funerals yet no one wants to actually deal with touching said dead bodies. I think it's perfectly fine for people to hold these kinds of ceramonies for the dead if they desire. Dying freaks me out more than dead bodies because while death can happen at any unpredictable time, I know eventually I'm going to end up dead. Although I'm not exactly sure what I'd want to do with my body once I'm dead, I think it'd be nice to at least have a tiny gravestone so that I could imagine my soul/ghost/whatever the heck I turn into chilling there when people come to visit me.


I agree with everything interviewee #3 said regarding gravesites. I also agree that if people understood the promise of heaven and if they knew it was a place they would be going they would no longer be afraid about death. I was once afraid about death but I know that everyone is going to die someday and when I die I know that I will be going to a better place. Interviewee #2’s insight was very interesting because she gave her family perspective about the care of the dead, the way she was taught to avoid dead bodies. It’s also interesting to hear some of the rituals that take place for her family such as burning paper for the dead in hopes that the paper will help them wherever they go.

Interviewee # 1 brought up an interesting point about the laws protecting people from digging up dead bodies and needing permission before taking an organ. I never thought about this and it made me think. Why is it so important to preserve perfection of a dead body? When people die they are dressed in their best clothes and given make up but what is this for? Interviewee #4 also mentioned that she would like her organs to be donated if they are in good health once she dies and I agree with that. Many people are uncomfortable with seeing a loved ones organs be donated to someone else but in some situations I think this may be necessary. Interviewee #5 also brought up an interesting point about the fact that people want to in a sense celebrate death but no one really wants to deal with seeing dead bodies. These insights really helped me to think about insights regarding death.

HW 46 - Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead

I don’t have much experience regarding the care of the dead because the two funerals I attended, I was too young to really know what was going on. In class we discussed some of the religious rituals that take place at funerals. Some of these include giving a eulogy, singing songs, and mourning the death of loved one. I have always wondered why we mourn for death when we know that everyone is going to die someday. My mom has told my siblings and I that when she dies she wants it to be a celebration not a sad event because death brings new life. Most of my family members are Christian so we believe that when you die you physical body is no longer part of your spiritual body, and while your physical body remains in the grave your spiritual body leaves to either heaven or hell.

What makes people choose cremation over burial? Who takes care of the dead? These are some of the questions that I would like to have answered by the end of this unit. I am interested in learning about people that work in mortuaries and some of their philosophies about the care of the dead. I am also interested in learning about people’s different opinions about what happens in the afterlife and what different religious groups believe about the after life. The care of the dead is very similar to death because everyone dies but not everyone lives.

HW 45 - Reply to Other Peoples' Comments

Dear Megumi,
Thank you for commenting on my blog I found your comments very insightful. It is true that doctors should care about their patients and not be so focused on decisions that will leave them safe from lawsuits. I enjoyed doing this research because it helped me to think about some of the atrocities within the practices of doctors such as ACOG using fear of litigation to control doctors and get them to follow their rules.

Dear Angela,
Thank you for commenting on my blog I found your comments very insightful. To answer your question I feel like slowly women are losing control of pregnancy and birth because it has become more medicalized in our society. The only way to change it is having midwives or even doing research to see if there are any good obstetricians out there, i'm sure there are some good ones out there.

Dear Michelle,
Thank you for commenting on my blog I found your comments very insightful. I really appreciate you giving me an alternative or something I could improve on. Next time I will know to include the other side’s point of view if possible. It seemed like ACOG thinks everything about their group is perfect and that they are doing everything they can to benefit the patient. This is how a company can portray itself while having a different agenda.

HW 42 - Pregnancy & birth culminating project

ACOG (American Congress of Obstetrics and Gynecology) represents the advocacy for equal health care for all women, and increased patient involvement of the medical process. While the mission statement of ACOG represents this statement in no way is this statement true, ACOG supports doctor’s needs much more than the patients. As a recommendation from ACOG doctors have continued to push for more C-Sections which explain the dramatic increase in c-sections of more than 50% since 1996 (Why has the USA’S cesarean section rate climbed so high). This provides an environment where nurses, midwives, and patients are not allowed to challenge the authority of an obstetrician and new drugs are tested on patients before they can be approved by the FDA. This causes sometimes fatal effects on the patient. This may also result in fear on doctors of litigation because they anticipate that something will go wrong.

In “Born in the USA” by Wagner Marsden a scenario was given where an obstetrician (Dr. S) decided to conduct a study using a drug to induce labor for women that had previously had c-sections. The label of the drug clearly stated that the drug should not be used for induction of labor but Dr. S decided to carry on with this study anyway. After working on creating the drug (although it wasn’t approved) Dr. S used the drug on a woman who came to him after previously having a c-section. “After a normal pregnancy, she was admitted to the hospital and without her knowing it, she became part of Dr. S’s study. (It appears that Dr. S’s claim that all women were informed of the study was false.) Dr. S gave her the drug to induce labor, the drug led to overly strong contractions, a condition known as uterine hyperstimulation, and then to uterine rupture. As a result, the woman’s baby was severely brain damaged and died in infancy” (Pg. 62). What action was taken against the obstetrician, one may ask. The obstetrician wasn’t penalized because he abused the idea that he was using this study for research. Some obstetricians are exploiting patients for the benefit of their practice.

Many doctors are fearful because the idea of being sued is not very pleasant. It means you would lose your practice and everything you have worked for. “ACOG also uses fear of litigation to control doctors and hospitals. If doctors and hospitals go against one of their recommendations, they are more vulnerable to litigation. At a policy level, ACOG uses another brand of fear to control women, politicians, and the media” (Born in the USA, Pg. 27). ACOG is what’s trying to make pregnancy and birth more medicalized in the United States. There are many recommendations they make for doctors and hospitals that they must follow or they will be sued. “Broadly, half (51%) of all physicians think that their ability to provide quality medical care to patients has gotten worse in the past five years. Further, more than three-fourths of physicians feel that concern about malpractice litigation (76%) has hurt their ability to provide quality care in recent years” (Fear of Litigation: The impact on Medicine). Is it justifiable to place most of the blame on doctors?

ACOG relates to the medicalization of pregnancy and birth in the United States. If we continue to let these companies control how we give birth then they will begin controlling even more aspects of our lives. This project has given me more insights on pregnancy and birth and after finding some of the atrocities I will keep these in mind because I plan to have children one day.

Works Cited:

*Common Good. April 11th, 2002. Fear of Litigation: The Impact on Medicine. http://commongood.org/healthcare-reading-cgpubs-polls-6.html

*Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA: How a Broken Maternity System must be Fixed to put Women and Children first. California: University of California Press, 2006. Print.