Korean Med Educ Rev.  2020 Oct;22(3):163-172. 10.17496/kmer.2020.22.3.163.

Considering  Death  and  Condolences  from  an  Educational  Perspective:  How  to  Examine  Condolences  in  Response  to  Death  in  Death  Education

• Lee KB

• KMID: 2508268
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.17496/kmer.2020.22.3.163

Abstract

Medical treatments as universal care have been turning into delivering medical technology. Coping with death, which is prevalent in all medical circumstances, without comprehensive understanding results in missing out on significant aspects between life and death. This makes doctors surrender easily to a conventional and binary division of life and death and reduces the chance of including death as a part of the medical realm. Furthermore, in terms of medical education, we need to have the opportunity to consider such subjects that can benefit from special planning and consideration. Through reviewing articles in a variety of disciplines such as medicine, philosophy, psychology, literature, and anthropology, we can better understand death, condolences, and the relevance between them in a contextual way. In order to seek a better approach, this study also aims to survey and review the recent state of death education in diverse fields of medicine in Korea. In conclusion, if it is complicated for us to explain or understand death in general, focusing on condolences as a human response to death could be one meaningful way that deserves contemplation. It is possible to regard condolences as a touchstone and a prerequisite in death education itself.

Keyword

Condolences; Death; Medical; education