CHILDREN AND DEATH
| Autor: | Simon Yudkin |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 1967 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | The Lancet. 289:37-41 |
| ISSN: | 0140-6736 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/s0140-6736(67)92436-1 |
| Popis: | SOME children who are ill are afraid of dying. They should be given an opportunity to show their fears and to talk about what death means to them so that the origin of their worries can be made clear and so that they can be reassured. The child with a fatal illness may not know that he is dying and may respond predictably to unusual behaviour by his parents, who do know that he is dying. But dying children may also fear death and must be given an opportunity to talk about it. Often the fear is about some fantasy that concerns death and about which reassurance can be given. Whether older children should be told that they are in fact going to die is a question for which I have no answer. The death of a child in a ward should be treated with dignity and solemnity, not furtively or with secrecy. The parents of a dying child need sympathy and understanding and confidence in their doctor. This is not increased by a willingness to subject the child to useless therapy. More research is needed about children's attitude to death and of sick children's fear of death. Cross-cultural studies would be valuable in helping to decide how much the fear of death is determined by the real facts of the children's lives and deaths and how much by pure and universal fantasy. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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