Fragile Lives

Death is inevitable, yet we often behave as if we will live forever. So when we meet someone who is dying, their fragility is a sharp and often unwelcome reminder of our own mortality. Beverley McNamara looks at death from a sociological perspective. Arguing that despite popular beleif death does not make us equal, she shows that dying is a chaotic and uncertain business. She examines the medicalisation of the care of terminally ill patients, attitudes of carers and the notion of a good death. she also explores the euthanasia debate and our fear of cancer.