We need to have a conversation about dying.
It’s no secret that everybody dies, but have you ever thought about how you would like to die? As a society we don’t often discuss death and dying, it’s something we shy away from and avoid until decisions have to be made on our behalf. But due to massive advances in medical technology and improvements in public health measures, life expectancy has increased and we’re living longer than ever before.
Developments in medicine and treatments over the past few decades have given us far more choice than we may think on how we die in old age. In Australia, seven out of 10 older adults want to die at home rather than in a hospital, but this is a reality for very few, with most deaths still occurring in hospitals. So if our elderly want a peaceful death at the end of their life outside of the hospital, why is this still not happening?
In under ten minutes, Lecturer in the School of Population Health, Ebony Lewis will talk to you about how to plan for a good death, because according to Ebony death and dying is something we should all be discussing with our loved ones and health care team before it’s too late.