Death Philosophy Research Paper 2022

Death philosophy
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Formal Analysis
Do doctors and nurses have an obligation to care for the emotional needs of their patients?
“In this paper, I will argue that doctors and nurses have an obligation to care for the emotional
needs of their patients. To do this, I will first explain why Kubler wants us to believe in the
stages of dying. Next, I will argue on the five stages of dying inform of premises. Finally, I will
make the point that doctors have an obligation to care for the emotional needs of their patients
based on the stages of dying.
Premise 1
Premise 2
Premise 3
Premise 4
Premise 5
Conclusion- Dying is a difficult stage that people go through and thus the reason why they need
to be supported to meet their emotional needs.
Do doctors and nurses have an obligation to care for the emotional needs of their patients?
Kubler postulated the emotions that were suffered by terminally ill patients before their
death or those who lost their loved ones. This means that patients tend to undergo this stage due
to the challenge of facing death when they are not prepared. The role of the nurse is to ensure
that they prepare their patients in a way that makes them easily deal with the issues related to the
afterlife. Utilitarian’s take this as the role of the healthcare professional to maximize patient
utilities during the end of life care so that the dating can be made a better experience. Further,
Kantian ethics dwell so much on the duty ethics where the role of the nurse or doctor is to take

care of the patient. This means that they need to take care of the patients as they undergo the five
stages of dying properly1. This essay presents the argument on the role of doctors and nurses in
taking care of their patients at all stages of their hospital stay using the Kuber’s five stages of
dying.
The first premise is patients are in denial since they believe that the diagnosis may have
been done wrong or false which means that what they have been told is not true. Most patients
live in denial since they react negatively when they are diagnosed with a terminal disease which
makes patients develop different feelings towards death2. As people become overwhelmed by
disease, they lose their physical fighting ability and thus start putting in their psychological
defenses which increase manifold. The role of denial is to act as a buffer after unexpected
shocking news and thus doctors and nurses are supposed to give the patient time to recollect
themselves. In this case, nurses and doctors are supposed to assist the patient to overcome denial
so that they can move to the next stage of dying.
The second premise is patients experience anger which expressed through frustration as a
movement away from denial. The role of the healthcare team is to guide the patient through the
process by assisting them to let out their anger in nonviolent ways. This implies that the
caregiver needs to prepare the patient and assist them in expressing their anger in a way that
makes it easy for them to deal with the situation3. Expressing anger makes it easy for the patient
1 Hoy WG. 2016.
Bereavement groups and the role of social support:
integrating theory, research, and practice. New York: Routledge/Taylor and
Francis.
2 Kübler-Ross, E., and D. Kessler. 2014.
On grief & grieving : finding the
meaning of grief through the five stages of loss. New York: Scribner.
3 Maciejewski, P.K., B. Zhang, S.D. Block, and HG Prigerson. 2017. "An empirical
examination of the stage theory of grief."
JAMA 297 (7): 716-723.