Dying Alone: Challenging Assumptions

✍ Scribed by Glenys Caswell

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2022
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 233
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book presents a sociological challenge to the long-held assumption that dying alone is a bad way to die and that for a death to be a good one the dying person should be accompanied. This assumption is represented in the deathbed scene, where the dying person is supported by religious or medical professionals, and accompanied by family and friends. This is a familiar scene to consumers of culture and is depicted in many texts including news media, fiction, television, drama and documentaries. The cultural script underpinning this assumption is examined, drawing on empirical data and published literature. Clarification is offered about what is meant when someone is said to die alone: are they alone at the precise moment of their death, or is it during the period before that? Questions are asked about whose interests are best served by the accompaniment of dying people, whether dying alone means dying lonely and whether, for some individuals, dying alone can be a choice and offer a good death? This book is suitable for scholars and students in the field of dying and death, as well as practitioners who work with dying people, some of whom may wish to be alone.

✦ Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Contents
Abbreviations
1: Introduction
Introduction
The Covid-19 Pandemic
No One Should Die Alone
The Background
Outline of the Book
References
2: How Can We Know and Think About Dying Alone?
The Empirical Work
Methodology
Study 1: Exploring Perspectives on Dying Alone: A Pilot Study of Sociological Autopsy as Research Methodology
Overview of Phase 1 Findings
Sociological Autopsy
Overview of Phase 2 Findings
Focus Group and Interviews with Hospice at Home Workers
Interviews with Older People Living Alone
Research Study 2: Exploring the Social Management of Lone Deaths
Research Methods
Case Studies
Interviews and Observations
Overview of Findings
Case Studies
Professional Interviews
Observations
Research Study 3: Exploring Social Understandings of Time of Death
Methods and Recruitment
Overview of Findings
Ethics and Researching Dying and Death
Theoretical Background
Reflexive Individuality
Expert Systems
Going It Alone?
Self-styled Life
Self-styled Death
Using Theory Throughout the Book
References
3: Dying in the United Kingdom: Context
Introduction
Dying in the United Kingdom
Expert Systems
Expert Systems: Dying
The Covid-19 Pandemic
Expert Systems: Post-death
Regulatory Systems
Office of Coroner
Local Authorities’ Role
Post-death Care
Funeral Directors
Funeral Officiants
A Good Death, or Dying Well
A Bad Death
A Death Suited to the Individual
References
4: How Do People Know That They Should Not Die Alone?
Introduction
Outline of Chapter
Cultural Scripts
Socialisation
Cultural Representations
The Deathbed Scene
Media Representations
Documentaries
Images of Dying
Novels
Modern Fiction
Presenting a More Nuanced Picture
How Do People Know That Dying Alone Is Bad?
References
5: What Does It Mean to Die Alone?
Introduction
Public and Private Spaces of Dying
Biological Death and Social Death
Choosing to Die Alone
Lonely Dying
Time at the End of Life
Time of Death
Timescapes of Dying Alone
Formulations of Dying Alone
Summary
References
6: Dying Alone in Public Spaces
Introduction
Dying Alone in Public Spaces
Homelessness
The Death of Peter Harrison
The Deaths of Homeless People During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Dying Alone in Quasi-public Spaces: Institutional Dying Alone
Hospitals
Care and Nursing Homes
Dying Alone with Covid-19
Timescapes of Institutional Dying Alone
Summary
References
7: Dying Alone in Private Spaces
Introduction
Outline of Chapter
Private Space of Home
Living Alone
Loneliness
Private Experience of Dying
Dying at Home: Numbers
Three Formulations of Dying Alone
Being Alone at Time of Decease
Empirical Work
Timescape of Sam’s Death
Dying Alone at Home
Literature-Based Evidence
Empirical Work
Timescape of Anthony Madeley’s Death
Older People Living Alone
Lone Death
Empirical Work
Megan Bloom
The Social Dying of Megan Bloom
Timescape of Megan Bloom’s Death
Lonely Dying
Dying Alone in Private Space During Covid-19 Pandemic
Summary
References
8: What Is Wrong with Dying Alone?
Introduction
Reflexive Individual: Planning for One’s Own Dying
Social Constructs Revisited
Public and Private
Social and Biological Death
Timescapes of Dying Alone
Choosing to Die Alone
Lonely Dying
Three Formulations of Dying Alone
Alone at Time of Decease
Dying Alone at Home
Lone Dying
What Is Wrong with Dying Alone?
Time Frame During Which the Dead Body Is Undiscovered
In the Interests of the Dying Person or the Survivors?
Impact of Personal/Social Failings
Lack of Clarity About What It Means to Die Alone
Conclusion
References
Index