Going "Beyond the Grave" with George E. Dickinson

"Like the cleaning lady, we all come to dust” (Peter De Vires).

I got this quote from Dr. Dickinson’s worksheet he handed out to our class last monday. I found this quote he included to be blunt and funny. Dr. George E. Dickinson is a sociology Professor at the College of Charleston. He came to our FYE class to talk about “The American Way of Death”. He is filled with interesting stories and explanations about how Americans cope and fear death that i’d like to share in this blog post.

Dickinson states that Americans more so than other nations are uneasy with the thought of dying. He also says we like to use euphemisms instead of bluntly saying he or she died. Some euphemisms he mentions are:

“We don’t die in America, we go to sleep”

“Passed away”

“Fell”

“Went to heaven”

“Rest in peace (RIP)”

Along with euphemisms Dickinson says that we like to avoid death conversations by making jokes. He says that we “joke about sex like we joke about death”. People are afraid of the unknown and losing things in life that we love such as family, friends or as Dickinson said “cheesecake”. We are also afraid of losing self control/independence because when we are dying we are bedridden, and revert back to helplessness. Almost like a giant wrinkly baby in that we cannot do anything without help. For example we can’t even use the bathroom without assistance and sometimes need to wear adult diapers.

Dr. George Dickinson and professor Patrick Harwood

⇨ Some more facts and interesting things I learned:

❖ 1960s: First human heart transplant. Used heart from a pig the patient did not live more than 2 days. Dickinson says that “it’s crazy to think that heart transplants are now an everyday occurrence. He also says that “maybe someday we can replace the human brain”. Some things that were once thought to be impossible were made possible by the use of technologies and learning from past failures… So who knows maybe brain transplants aren't such an abstract idea.

❖ The word “cemetery” is a Greek word. It means “put to sleep”. Another euphemism that goes along with this is “rest in peace”.

❖ Middle aged people have highest death anxiety. Dr. Dickinson says middle aged people are in the “Buffer Zone” because you’re not young and irresponsible but you're not old and accepting that you're going to die. He gives an analogy that “it's like standing in the middle of the line at the movie theater and how we move up in line as soon as the person in front moves.” Like moving closer and closer to death, or to get your ticket at the movies in his example.

❖ Rumor has it that Walt Disney is frozen?? Some people choose to be cryopreserved, which according to Wikipedia is an attempt to preserve enough brain information to permit future revival of the dead person. Cryonics uses temperatures below 130 C. Dickinson says this process is crazy expensive and finds it to be a waste of money that he could be spending on other things while he's alive, like traveling.

❖ 80% now die in an institutional setting, away from home. The Ideal death for most Americans is at home in bed and while you're asleep. This is also how I would like to die so that it’s painless.

⇨ Four Awareness Contexts of Dying (Glaser and Strauss)

❏ Closed Awareness- When you scoot around the topic and pretend that nothing is wrong.

❑ Suspicion Awareness- suspects but is uncertain that the illness is fatal.

❑ Mutual Awareness- Patient, staff, and family members know that the illness is terminal but do not discuss it openly.

❏ Open Awareness- When the patient is made comfortable and everyone knows that he/she is going to die. Sometimes the patient is taken care of by a hospice who is there to make them feel comfortable in their final days. 

⇨ Three places for "final disposition of dead human remains"

❍ Earth burial, can be very expensive, averages around $10,000.

❍ Cremation, which is becoming more and more common, it's cheaper on average at $2,000- Dickinson said that in 1975 10% of Americans were cremated. Today it's jumped to 42% and by the year 2020 50% is expected. England is up to 90 percent.

❍ Donate body to science, he said that sometimes people have to pay for the body to be transported which I found shocking.