Talking about death and dying: Must we really?

There seems to be is a general perception that the British public, which includes health care practitioners, is reluctant to talk about dying and death. Furthermore, this avoidance behaviour is observed, noted and expressed in national policy briefings as being detrimental to patient involvement in decision-making, effective coping and preparation for death, organ donation, writing a will and the process of bereavement (Department of Health (DH), 2008). A coalition of interested parties supported by the National Council for Palliative Care in the UK called Dying Matters has taken on the mantle to campaign for breaking down the barriers surrounding all aspects of dying and death in society and to simply, talk more openly, easily and frequently about life’s ultimate certainty. The coalition was established in 2008 with support from the DH to ‘raise the profile of end-of-life care and to change attitudes to death and dying in society’ (DH, 2008).