Fear Of Death

“Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years, death hangs over you”, Marcus Aurelius. Ever since the first human being set foot on this planet, there have been a plethora of deadly and fascinating diseases that have caused fear and concern but also marveled the scientific and medical communities with their strange and often times bizarre behavior. Throughout the course of history many have examined and come across countless numbers of bacteria and viruses that cause extreme and wild reactions on the human body. Although everyone shares the same anatomical features; one heart, two lungs, one liver etc. the practice of medicine teaches no two bodies are exactly alike. There are many individuals who have lived out their entire …show more content…
For many cultures of the past, death was perceived as something honorable and worthy of recognition. A wide variety of rituals and celebrations where held in honor of the deceased to commemorate their time here on earth. Dr. David San Filippo, chairman of the Health Care Programs at National Louis University in Chicago, Illinois, points out, “Some primitive societies feared death because they believed that death was not a natural process but an unnatural, accidental occurrence. Other societies had no fear of death. They perceived death not as an end or extinction of life, but as a change in existence in which the soul passed to another realm. The living world prepared the dying for this transition by various death rituals and funeral practices” (San Filippo). Some cultures like the Ancient Egyptians, would mummify their dead because they believed an earthly body needed to be preserved in order for the soul to have a chance at eternal life (Mark). The Ancient Greeks would put Obols, or coins, under the tongues of their deceased so they could pay Charon, the ferryman of Hades, along their journey to the underworld. Death was seen as something worthy of respect for most of these ancient societies, but as of late, the issue of death is creating wild levels of controversy in countries of Western Europe and in many states here in America. Death is becoming …show more content…
This oath is the cornerstone of modern medicine and is often times recited at various medical schools in the country as a promise future doctors make to their community. The Hippocratic Oath urges physicians to do no harm to their patients, but as Dr. Ian Dowbiggin states, this oath was not always followed by other physicians. “Although the Hippocratic Oath prohibited doctors from giving 'a deadly drug to anybody, not even if asked for, ' or from suggesting such a course of action, few ancient Greek or Roman physicians followed the oath faithfully. Throughout classical antiquity, there was widespread support for voluntary death as opposed to prolonged agony, and physicians complied by often giving their patients the poisons they requested” (Dowbiggin). Many modern day activists claim this act of Physician Assisted Suicide completely undermines the integrity of the medical profession and goes against everything Hippocrates taught. They bring up the atrocities committed by Nazi physicians during the Second World War, and the various experiments they would conduct on babies and the elderly. They claim Physician Assisted Suicide is a rejection of the importance and value of human life, and physicians should not be able to offer that choice to those who are vulnerable and fragile. But are any of these arguments truly