The final taboo
Linda Banks asks whether we, as a culture, have over-medicalised death
From a quick glance at the media it would seem that anything goes and there are no taboos. Yet despite all our openness, talking about death and its actual process is still avoided by most people. Indeed the word itself is usually replaced by one of many euphemisms. To be facetious for a moment – talking about ‘when we lost Mother’ sounds like great carelessness! My thoughts on this came into very sharp focus in 2007, when John, my partner of twenty years, died after a serious illness. I awoke one night to find John in great distress and by the time I had got out of bed he had collapsed. I knew that he had died. I phoned 999 and was given instructions on how to carry out resuscitation while I waited for the paramedics. I found this physically impossible and emotionally unbearable as I was sure that he had died. Together with their large amount of bulky equipment the three paramedics completely filled the bedroom in our tiny flat and they seemed surprised when I fetched a chair to sit in the doorway.
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