'Death' is the permanent end of the
life of a biological
organism. Death may refer to the end of life as either an event or condition.
[ Definitions of Death Encyclopedia of Death and Dying ] Many factors can cause or contribute to an organism's death, including
predation,
disease,
habitat destruction,
senescence,
malnutrition and
accidents. The principal causes of death in
developed countries are diseases related to
aging.
Traditions and beliefs related to death are an important part of human
culture, and central to many
religions. In
medicine, biological details and definitions of death have become increasingly complicated as
technology advances.
Biology
Fate of dead organisms
Ants begin the decomposition of a dead
snake.
In animals, small movements of the limbs (for example twitching legs or wings) known as a
postmortem spasm can sometimes be observed following death. ''
Pallor mortis'' is a postmortem paleness which accompanies death due to a lack of
capillary circulation throughout the body. ''
Algor mortis'' describes the predictable decline in
body temperature until
ambient temperature is reached. Within a few hours of death ''
rigor mortis'' is observed with a
chemical change in the
muscles, causing the limbs of the
corpse to become stiff (
Latin ''rigor'') and difficult to move or manipulate. Assuming mild temperatures, full rigor occurs at about 12 hours, eventually subsiding to relaxation at about 36 hours. Decomposition isn't always a slow process however - for example
fire is the primary mode of decomposition in most grassland
ecosystems.
[1]
After death an organism's remains become part of the
biogeochemical cycle. Animals may be
consumed by a
predator or
scavenger.
Organic material may then be further decomposed by
detritivores, organisms which recycle
detritus, returning it to the environment for reuse in the
food chain. Examples include
earthworms,
woodlice and
dung beetles.
Microorganisms also play a vital role, raising the temperature of the decomposing material as they break it down into simpler molecules. Not all material need be decomposed fully however; for example
coal is a
fossil fuel formed in
swamp ecosystems where
plant remains were saved by water and mud from
oxidization and
biodegradation.
Some organisms have hard parts such as
shells or
bones which may not decompose and become fossilized.
Fossils are the
mineralized or otherwise preserved remains or traces (such as footprints) of animals, plants, and other organisms. Fossils vary in size from
microscopic, such as single cells, to gigantic, such as
dinosaurs. A fossil normally preserves only a portion of the deceased organism, usually that portion that was partially mineralized during life, such as the bones and teeth of
vertebrates, or the
chitinous
exoskeletons of
invertebrates. Preservation of
soft tissues is extremely rare in the fossil record.
Competition, natural selection and extinction
Death is an important part of the process of
natural selection. Organisms that are less
adapted to their current environment than others are more likely to die having produced fewer offspring, reducing their contribution to the
gene pool of succeeding generations. Weaker genes are thus eventually bred out of a population, leading to processes such as
speciation and extinction. It should be noted however that
reproduction plays an equally important role in determining survival, for example an organism that dies young but leaves many offspring will have a much greater
Darwinian fitness than a long-lived organism which leaves only one.
Extinction
Extinction is the cessation of existence of a
species or group of
taxa, reducing
biodiversity. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that species (although the
capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point). Because a species' potential
range may be very large, determining this moment is difficult, and is usually done retrospectively. This difficulty leads to phenomena such as
Lazarus taxa, where a species presumed extinct abruptly "re-appears" (typically in the
fossil record) after a period of apparent absence.
Through
evolution, new species arise through the process of
speciation — where new varieties of organisms arise and thrive when they are able to find and exploit an
ecological niche — and species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition. A typical species becomes extinct within 10 million years of its first appearance,
[3] although some species, called
living fossils, survive virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. Only one in a thousand species that have existed remain today.
3[4]
Prior to the dispersion of humans across the earth, extinction generally occurred at a continuous low rate, interspersed with rare
mass extinction events. Starting approximately 100,000 years ago, and coinciding with an
increase in the numbers and range of humans, species extinctions have increased to a rate unprecedented
[5] since the
Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event. This is known as the
Holocene extinction event and is at least the sixth such
extinction event. Some experts have estimated that up to half of presently existing species may become extinct by 2100.
[6]
Evolution of aging
Main articles: Evolution of aging
Enquiry into the evolution of aging aims to explain why all living things weaken and die with age. There is not yet agreement in the
scientific community on a single answer. The evolutionary origin of senescence remains one of the fundamental puzzles of biology.
In medicine
Definition
Historically, attempts to define the exact moment of death have been problematic. Death was once defined as the cessation of
heartbeat (
cardiac arrest) and of
breathing, but the development of
CPR and prompt
defibrillation have rendered the previous definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted. This is now called "
clinical death". Events which were
causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of
life support devices,
organ transplants and
artificial pacemakers.
Today, where a definition of the moment of death is required, doctors and coroners usually turn to "
brain death" or "biological death": People are considered dead when the electrical activity in their brain ceases (cf.
persistent vegetative state). It is presumed that a stoppage of electrical activity indicates the end of
consciousness. However, suspension of consciousness must be permanent, and not transient, as occurs during
sleep, and especially a
coma. In the case of sleep,
EEGs can easily tell the difference. Identifying the moment of death is important in cases of
transplantation, as organs for transplant must be harvested as quickly as possible after the death of the body.
The possession of brain activity, or ability to resume brain activity, is a
necessary condition to legal personhood in the United States. "''It appears that once brain death has been determined … no criminal or civil liability will result from disconnecting the life-support devices.''" (Dority v. Superior Court of
San Bernardino County, 193 Cal.Rptr. 288, 291 (1983))
Those maintaining that only the
neo-cortex of the brain is necessary for consciousness sometimes argue that only electrical activity there should be considered when defining death. Eventually it is possible that the criterion for death will be the permanent and irreversible loss of
cognitive function, as evidenced by the death of the
cerebral cortex. All hope of recovering human thought and
personality is then gone. However, at present, in most places the more conservative definition of death — irreversible cessation of electrical activity in the whole brain, as opposed to just in the neo-cortex — has been adopted (for example the
Uniform Determination Of Death Act in the
United States). In 2005, the case of
Terri Schiavo brought the question of brain death and artificial sustenance to the front of
American politics.
Even by whole-brain criteria, the determination of brain death can be complicated. EEGs can detect spurious electrical impulses, while certain
drugs,
hypoglycemia,
hypoxia, or
hypothermia can suppress or even stop brain activity on a temporary basis. Because of this, hospitals have protocols for determining brain death involving EEGs at widely separated intervals under defined conditions.
Misdiagnosed death
There are many anecdotal references to people being declared dead by physicians and then coming back to life, sometimes days later in their own coffin, or when
embalming procedures are just about to begin. Owing to significant scientific advancements in the
Victorian era, some people in
Britain became obsessively worried about living after being declared dead.
A
first responder is not authorized to pronounce a patient dead. Some
EMT training manuals specifically state that a person is not to be assumed dead unless there are clear and obvious indications that death has occurred.
[ Limmer, D. et al. (2006). Emergency care (AHA update, Ed. 10e). Prentice Hall.] These indications include mortal
decapitation,
rigor mortis (rigidity of the body),
livor mortis (blood pooling in the part of the body at lowest elevation), decomposition, incineration, or other bodily damage that is clearly inconsistent with life. If there is any possibility of life and in the absence of a
do not resuscitate (DNR) order,
emergency workers are instructed to begin rescue and not end it until a patient has been brought to a hospital to be examined by a physician. This frequently leads to situation of a patient being pronounced
dead on arrival (DOA). However, some states allow
paramedics to pronounce death. This is usually based on specific criteria. Aside from the above mentioned, conditions include advanced measures including CPR,
intubation, IV access, and administering medicines without regaining a pulse for at least 20 minutes.
In cases of
electrocution, CPR for an hour or longer can allow stunned
nerves to recover, allowing an apparently-dead person to survive. People found unconscious under icy water may survive if their
faces are kept continuously cold until they arrive at an
emergency room.
This "diving response", in which
metabolic activity and oxygen requirements are minimal, is something humans share with
cetaceans called the
mammalian diving reflex.
As medical technologies advance, ideas about when death occurs may have to be re-evaluated in light of the ability to restore a person to vitality after longer periods of apparent death (as happened when CPR and defibrillation showed that cessation of heartbeat is inadequate as a decisive indicator of death). The lack of electrical brain activity may not be enough to consider someone scientifically dead. Therefore, the concept of
information theoretical death has been suggested as a better means of defining when true death actually occurs, though the concept has few practical applications outside of the field of
cryonics.
There have been some scientific attempts to bring dead organisms back to life, but with limited success
[1]. In
science fiction scenarios where such technology is readily available,
real death is distinguished from reversible death.
Causes of human death
Death can be caused by
disease,
accident,
homicide, or
suicide. The leading cause of death in
developing countries is
infectious disease. The leading causes of death in
developed countries are
atherosclerosis (
heart disease and
stroke),
cancer, and other diseases related to
obesity and
aging. These conditions cause loss of
homeostasis, leading to
cardiac arrest, causing loss of
oxygen and nutrient supply, causing irreversible deterioration of the
brain and other
tissues. With improved medical capability, dying has become
a condition to be managed. Home deaths, once the norm, are now rare in the first world.
In
developing nations, inferior sanitary conditions and lack of access to
medical technology makes death from
infectious diseases more common than in
developed countries. One such disease is
tuberculosis, a bacterial disease which killed 1.7 million people in 2004.
[7]
Many leading first world causes of death can be postponed by
diet and
physical activity, but the accelerating incidence of disease with age still imposes limits on human
longevity. The
evolutionary cause of aging is, at best, only just beginning to be understood. It has been suggested that direct intervention in the aging process may now be the most effective intervention against major causes of death.
[8]
Autopsy
Main articles: Autopsy
An autopsy, also known as a ''postmortem examination'' or an ''obduction'', is a
medical procedure that consists of a thorough
examination of a
human corpse to determine the cause and manner of a person's death and to evaluate any
disease or
injury that may be present. It is usually performed by a specialized
medical doctor called a
pathologist.
Autopsies are either performed for legal or medical purposes. A forensic autopsy is carried out when the cause of death may be a criminal matter, while a clinical or academic autopsy is performed to find the medical cause of death and is used in cases of unknown or uncertain death, or for research purposes. Autopsies can be further classified into cases where external examination suffices, and those where the body is dissected and an internal examination is conducted. Permission from
next of kin may be required for internal autopsy in some cases. Once an internal autopsy is complete the body is reconstituted by sewing it back together. Autopsy is important in a medical environment and may shed light on mistakes and help improve practices.
A necropsy is a postmortem examination performed on a non-human animal, such as a pet.
Life extension
Main articles: Life extension
Life extension refers to an increase in
maximum or
average lifespan, especially in humans, by slowing down or reversing the
processes of aging. Average lifespan is determined by vulnerability to
accidents and age-related afflictions such as
cancer or
cardiovascular disease. Extension of average lifespan can be achieved by good
diet,
exercise and avoidance of hazards such as
smoking and excessive eating of
sugar-containing foods.
Maximum lifespan is determined by the rate of
aging for a species inherent in its
genes. Currently, the only widely recognized method of extending maximum lifespan is
calorie restriction. Theoretically, extension of maximum lifespan can be achieved by reducing the rate of aging damage, by
periodic replacement of damaged tissues, or by
molecular repair or
rejuvenation of deteriorated cells and tissues.
Researchers of life extension are a subclass of
biogerontologists known as "biomedical
gerontologists". They seek to understand the nature of aging and they develop treatments to reverse aging processes or to at least slow them down, for the improvement of health and the maintenance of youthful vigor at every stage of life. Those who take advantage of life extension findings and seek to apply them upon themselves are called "life extensionists" or "longevists". The primary life extension strategy currently is to apply available anti-aging methods in the hope of living long enough to benefit from a complete cure to aging once it is developed, which given the rapidly advancing state of biogenetic and general medical technology, could conceivably occur within the lifetimes of people living today.
Many biomedical gerontologists and
life extensionists believe that future breakthroughs in tissue
rejuvenation with
stem cells,
organs replacement (with artificial
organs or
xenotransplantations) and
molecular repair will eliminate all aging and disease as well as allow for complete rejuvenation to a youthful condition. Whether such breakthroughs can occur within the next few decades is impossible to predict. Some life extensionists arrange to be
cryonically preserved upon legal death so that they can await the time when future
medicine can eliminate
disease,
rejuvenate them to a lasting youthful condition and repair damage caused by the
cryonics process. Whether the maximum human lifespan should be extended is the subject of much
ethical debate amongst politicians and scientists.
The physician's perspective
A qualitative survey of
internal medicine doctors in the United States found three sources of satisfaction from medical practice:
# realizing a fundamental change in perspective via an experience with a patient
# making a difference in someone's life
# connecting with patients
The authors of the survey noted how often the meaningful events, such as connecting with patients, occurred at events, such as death, that normally suggest a failure of
medical care.
[9] The following research suggests factors associated with a meaningful death.
A qualitative study using
focus groups that consisted of "physicians, nurses,
social workers, chaplains, hospice volunteers, patients, and recently bereaved family members". The groups identified the following themes associated with a 'good death'.
[10] The article is freely available and provides much more detail.
# 'Pain and Symptom Management'. Patients want reassurance that symptoms, such as pain or
shortness of breath that may occur at death, will be well treated.
# 'Clear Decision Making'. According to the study, 'participants stated that fear of pain and inadequate symptom management could be reduced through communication and clear decision making with physicians. Patients felt empowered by participating in treatment decisions'.
# 'Preparation for Death'. Patients wanted to know what to expect near death and to be able to plan for the events that would follow death.
# 'Completion'. 'Completion includes not only faith issues but also
life review, resolving conflicts, spending time with family and friends, and saying good-bye.'
# 'Contributing to Others'. A family member noted, "I guess it was really poignant for me when a nurse or new resident came into his room, and the first thing he'd say would be, ‘Take care of your wife’ or ‘Take care of your husband. Spend time with your children.’ He wanted to make sure he imparted that there's a purpose for life."
# 'Affirmation of the Whole Person'. 'They didn't come in and say, "I'm Doctor so and so." There wasn't any kind of separation or aloofness. They would sit right on his bed, hold his hand, talk about their families, his family, golf, and sports.'
# 'Distinctions in Perspectives of a Good Death'
A separate study suggests that the patients' preferences will not be stable as death approaches and so the physician should consider re-evaluating these issues.
[11]
In an essay, 'On Saying Goodbye: Acknowledging the End of the Patient–Physician Relationship with Patients Who Are Near Death' suggestions are made to health care providers for saying good-bye to patients near death.
[12] The quotes below are from the article. The article is freely available and provides much more detail.
# 'Choose an Appropriate Time and Place'
# 'Acknowledge the End of Your Routine Contact and the Uncertainty about Future Contact' The doctor could say, "You know, I'm not sure if we will see each other again in person, so while we are with each other now I want to say something about our relationship."
# 'Invite the Patient To Respond, and Use That Response as a Piece of Data about the Patient's State of Mind' The authors suggest saying "Would that be okay?" or "how would you feel about that?"
# 'Frame the Goodbye as an Appreciation' The authors suggest examples such as "I just wanted to say how much I've enjoyed you and how much I've appreciated your flexibility [or cooperation, good spirits, courage, honesty, directness, collaboration] and your good humor [or your insights, thoughtfulness, love for your family]."
# 'Give Space for the Patient to Reciprocate, and Respond Empathically to the Patient's Emotion' If the patients becomes tearful, the doctor can provide silence to allow the patient to respond, or the doctor may ask about what the patient is feeling.
# 'Articulate an Ongoing Commitment to the Patient's Care' Do not make the patient feel abandoned, "Of course you know I remain available to you and that you can still call me".
# 'Later, Reflect on Your Work with This Patient'
A
randomized controlled trial of communication between health care providers and family members at the time of death reported that the intervention decreased the burden of bereavement.
[13] The intervention consisted of a brochure and family conference that focused on the following items that are remembered with the mnemonic 'value':
★ to 'V'alue and appreciate what the family members said
★ to 'A'cknowledge the family members' emotions
★ to 'L'isten
★ to ask questions that would allow the caregiver to 'U'nderstand who the patient was as a person
★ to 'E'licit questions from the family members. Each investigator received a detailed description of the conference procedure
Other difficult issues for physicians include providing sedation for a patient at death and discontinuing life support. The following case reports detail these experiences from the physician's perspective.
[14][15]
Death in culture
Settlement of dead bodies
A horse-drawn
hearse with driver, circa 1900.
In most cultures, before the onset of significant decay, the body undergoes some type of ritual disposal, usually either
cremation or interment in a
tomb. Cremation is a very old and quite common custom, if one takes into account the sheer numbers of next of kin (of dead) practicing it. The act of cremation exemplifies the belief of the concept of "ashes to ashes". The other modes of disposal include interment in a
grave, but may also be a
sarcophagus,
crypt,
sepulchre, or
ossuary, a mound or barrow, or a monumental
surface structure such as a
mausoleum (exemplified by the
Taj Mahal) or a
pyramid (as exemplified by the
Great Pyramid of Giza).
In
Tibet, one method of corpse disposal is
sky burial, which involves placing the body of the deceased on
high ground (a
mountain) and leaving it for
birds of prey to dispose of. Sometimes this is because in some religious views,
birds of prey are carriers of the
soul to the heavens, but at other times this simply reflects the fact that when terrain (as in
Tibet) makes the ground too hard to dig, there are few trees around to burn and the local religion (
Buddhism) believes that the body after death is only an empty shell, there are more practical ways of disposing of a body, such as leaving it for animals to consume.
In certain cultures, efforts are made to retard the decay processes before burial (resulting even in the retardation of decay processes after the burial), as in
mummification or
embalming. This happens during or after a
funeral ceremony. Many
funeral customs exist in different cultures. In some fishing or naval communities, the body is sent into the water, in what is known as
burial at sea. Several mountain villages have a tradition of hanging the
coffin in woods.
A new alternative is
ecological burial. This is a sequence of deep-freezing, pulverisation by vibration,
freeze-drying, removing
metals, and burying the resulting powder, which has 30% of the body mass.
Cryonics is the process of
cryopreservating of a body to
liquid nitrogen temperature to stop the natural decay processes that occur after death. Those practicing cryonics hope that future technology will allow the
legally deceased person to be restored to life when and if science is able to cure all disease,
rejuvenate people to a youthful condition and repair damage from the cryopreservation process itself. As of 2007, there were over 150 people in some form of cryopreservation at one of the two largest cryonics organizations,
Alcor Life Extension Foundation and the
Cryonics Institute.
Space burial uses a rocket to launch the cremated remains of a body into orbit. This has been done at least 150 times.
Graves are usually grouped together in a plot of land called a ''
cemetery'' or ''graveyard'', and burials can be arranged by a
funeral home,
mortuary,
undertaker or by a religious body such as a
church or the community's
burial society, a charitable or voluntary body charged with these duties.
Whole body donations, made by the donor while living (or by a family member in some cases), are an important source of human cadavers used in
medical education and similar training, and in research. In the United States, these gifts, along with organ donations, are governed by the
Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. In addition to wishing to benefit others, individuals might choose to donate their bodies to avoid the cost of funeral arrangements; however, willed body programs often encourage families to make alternative arrangements for burial if the body is not accepted.
Grief and mourning
Grief is a multi-faceted response to loss. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, it also has a physical, cognitive, behavioural, social and philosophical dimensions. Common to human experience is the death of a loved one, be they friend, family, or other. While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement often refers to the state of loss, and grief to the reaction to loss. Response to loss is varied and researchers have moved away from conventional views of grief (that is, that people move through an orderly and predictable series of responses to loss) to one that considers the wide variety of responses that are influenced by ,
family,
culture, and
spiritual and
religious beliefs and practices.
Bereavement, while a normal part of life for most people, carries a degree of risk when limited support is available. Severe reactions to loss may carry over into familial relations and cause trauma for children, spouses and any other family members. Many forms of what are termed '
mental illness' have loss as their root, but covered by many years and circumstances this often goes unnoticed. Issues of personal faith and beliefs may also face challenge, as bereaved persons reassess personal definitions in the face of great pain. While many who grieve are able to work through their loss independently, accessing additional support from bereavement professionals may promote the process of healing. Individual counseling, professional
support groups or educational classes, and peer-lead support groups are primary resources available to the bereaved. In some regions local hospice agencies may be an important first contact for those seeking bereavement support.
Mourning is the process of and practices surrounding death related grief. The word is also used to describe a cultural complex of behaviours in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate. Customs vary between different cultures and evolve over time, though many core behaviors remain constant. Wearing dark, sombre clothes is one practice followed in many countries, though other forms of dress are also seen. Those most affected by the loss of a loved one often observe a period of grieving, marked by withdrawal from social events and quiet, respectful behavior. People may also follow certain religious traditions for such occasions.
Mourning may also apply to the death of, or anniversary of the passing of, an important individual like a local leader, monarch, religious figure etc. State mourning may occur on such an occasion. In recent years some traditions have given way to less strict practices, though many customs and traditions continue to be followed.
Animal loss
Animal loss is the loss of a
pet or a non-human animal to which one has become
emotionally bonded. Though sometimes trivialized by those who have not experienced it themselves, it can be an intense loss, comparable with the death of a loved one.
Legal aspects
Settlement of legal entity
Aside from the physical disposition of the corpse, the
estate of a person must be settled. This includes all of the person's legal rights and obligations, such as assets and debts. Depending on the
jurisdiction,
laws or a
will may determine the final disposition of the estate. A legal process, such as
probate, will guide these proceedings.
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as ''capital crimes'' or ''capital offences''.
Historically, the execution of
criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress
political dissent. Among democratic countries around the world, all
European (except
Belarus) and
Latin American states, many Pacific Area states (including
Australia,
New Zealand and
Timor Leste), and
Canada have abolished capital punishment, while the
United States,
Guatemala, and most of the
Caribbean as well as some democracies in
Asia (''e.g.'',
Japan and
India) and
Africa (''e.g.'',
Botswana and
Zambia) retain it. Among nondemocratic countries, the use of the death penalty is common but not universal.
In most places that practice capital punishment today, the death penalty is reserved as punishment for premeditated
murder,
espionage,
treason, or as part of
military justice. In some countries, sexual crimes, such as
adultery and
sodomy, carry the death penalty, as do religious crimes such as
apostasy, the formal renunciation of one's religion. In many
retentionist countries,
drug trafficking is also a capital offense. In China
human trafficking and serious cases of
corruption are also punished by the death penalty. In militaries around the world
courts-martial have imposed death sentences for offenses such as
cowardice,
desertion,
insubordination, and
mutiny.
[16]
Capital punishment is a very contentious issue. Supporters of capital punishment argue that it
deters crime, prevents
recidivism, and is an appropriate form of punishment for the crime of
murder. Opponents of capital punishment argue that it does not deter criminals more than life imprisonment, violates
human rights, leads to executions of some who are
wrongfully convicted, and discriminates against minorities and the poor.
Warfare
Dead Japanese soldiers on
Guam July
1944.
War is a prolonged state of violent, large scale conflict involving two or more groups of people. When and how war originated is a highly controversial topic. Some think war has existed as long as
humans, while others believe it began only about 5000 years ago with the rise of the first states; afterward war "spread to peaceful
hunter-gatherers and agriculturalists."
[17]
Often opposing leaders or governing bodies get other people to fight for them, even if those fighting have no
vested interest in the issues fought over. In time it became practical for some people to have warfare as their sole occupation, either as a member of a
military force or mercenary. The original cause of war is not always known. Wars may be prosecuted simultaneously in one or more different
theatres. Within each theatre, there may be one or more consecutive
military campaigns. Individual actions of war within a specific campaign are traditionally called
battles, although this terminology is not always applied to contentions in modernity involving aircraft, missiles or bombs alone in the absence of ground troops or
naval forces.
The factors leading to war are often complicated and due to a range of issues. Where disputes arise over issues such as
sovereignty,
territory,
resources,
ideology and a
peaceable resolution is not sought, fails, or is thwarted, war often results.
A war may begin following an official
declaration of war in the case of international war, although this has not always been observed either historically or currently.
Civil wars and
revolutions are not usually initiated by a formal declaration of war, but sometimes a statement about the purposes of the fighting is made. Such statements may be interpreted to be declarations of war, or at least a willingness to fight for a cause.
Military suicide and suicide attacks
Two Japanese Imperial Marines who shot themselves rather than surrender, Tarawa, Gilbert Islands in the Pacific, 1943.
A suicide attack occurs when an individual or group violently sacrifice their own lives for the benefit of their side. In the desperate final days of
World War II, many
Japanese pilots volunteered for
kamikaze missions in an attempt to forestall defeat for the Empire. In
Nazi Germany,
Luftwaffe squadrons were formed to smash into
American B-17s during daylight bombing missions, in order to delay the highly-probable
Allied victory, although in this case, inspiration was primarily the Soviet and Polish ''taran''
ramming attacks, and death of the pilot was not a desired outcome. The degree to which such a pilot was engaging in a heroic, selfless action or whether they faced immense
social pressure is a matter of historical debate. The Japanese also built one-man "
human torpedo" suicide
submarines.
However, suicide has been fairly common in warfare throughout history. Soldiers and civilians committed suicide to avoid capture and slavery (including the wave of German and Japanese suicides in the last days of World War II). Commanders committed suicide rather than accept defeat. Spies and officers have committed suicide to avoid revealing secrets under
interrogation and/or
torture. Behaviour that could be seen as suicidal occurred often in battle. Japanese
infantrymen usually fought to the last man, launched
"banzai" suicide charges, and committed suicide during the
Pacific island battles in World War II. In
Saipan and
Okinawa, civilians joined in the suicides. Suicidal attacks by pilots were common in the
20th century: the attack by U.S.
torpedo planes at the
Battle of Midway was very similar to a kamikaze attack.
Martyrdom
Scene in which a Native American is going to be burned by a crowd of European settlers
A martyr is a person who is put to death or endures suffering for their beliefs, principles or ideology. The death of a martyr or the value attributed to it is called martyrdom. In different belief systems, the criteria for being considered a martyr is different. In the
Christian context, a martyr is an innocent person who, without seeking death, is murdered or put to death for his or her religious
faith or convictions. An example is the persecution of
early Christians in the
Roman Empire.
Christian martyrs sometimes decline to defend themselves at all, in what they see as an imitation of
Jesus' willing sacrifice.
Islam accepts a broader view of what constitutes a ''martyr'', including anyone who dies in the struggle between
those lands under Muslim government and
those areas outside Muslim rule. Generally, some seek to include
suicide bombers as a "martyr" of Islam, however, this is widely disputed in mainstream
Islamic thought, which argues that a martyr may not commit suicide.
Though often religious in nature, martyrdom can be applied to a
secular context as well. The term is sometimes applied to those who die or are otherwise severely affected in support of a cause, such as soldiers fighting in a war, doctors fighting an epidemic, or people leading
civil rights movements. Proclaiming martyrdom is a common way to draw attention to a cause and garner support.
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally taking one's own life. The term "suicide" can also be used as a noun to refer to a person who has killed himself or herself.
Views on suicide have been influenced by cultural views on existential themes such as
religion,
honor, and the
meaning of life. Most Western and Asian religions—the
Abrahamic religions,
Buddhism,
Hinduism—consider suicide a dishonorable act; in the West it was regarded as a serious
crime and
offense against
God due to religious belief in the
sanctity of life.
Japanese views on honor and religion led to
seppuku being respected as a means to atone for mistakes or failure during the
samurai era. In the 20th century suicide in the form of
self-immolation has been used as a form of protest.
Self-sacrifice for others is not usually considered suicide.
The predominant view of modern medicine is that suicide is a
mental health concern, associated with psychological factors such as the difficulty of coping with
depression, inescapable
pain or
fear, or other
mental disorders and pressures. Suicide is often interpreted as a "cry for help" and
attention, or to express
despair and the wish to escape, rather than a genuine intent to die. Most suicides (for various reasons) do not succeed on a first attempt; those who later gain a history of repetitions are significantly more at risk of eventual completion.
[18] Nearly a million people worldwide die by suicide annually. While completed suicides are higher in men, women have higher rates for
suicide attempts. Elderly males have the highest suicide rate, although rates for young adults have been increasing in recent years.
[19]
Euthanasia
Main articles: Euthanasia,
animal euthanasia
Euthanasia is the practice of terminating the life of a person or animal in a
painless or minimally painful way in order to prevent
suffering or other undesired conditions in life. This may be voluntary or involuntary, and carried out with or without a physician. In a medical environment, it is normally carried out by oral, intravenous or intramuscular drug administration.
Laws around the world vary greatly with regard to euthanasia and are subject to change as people's values shift and better
palliative care or treatments become available. It is legal in some nations, while in others it may be criminalized. Due to the gravity of the issue, strict restrictions and proceedings are enforced regardless of
legal status. Euthanasia is a
controversial issue because of conflicting moral feelings both within a person's own beliefs and between different cultures, ethnicities, religions and other groups. The subject is explored by the mass media, authors, film makers and philosophers, and is the source of ongoing debate and emotion.
Customs and superstitions
Death's finality and the relative lack of firm scientific understanding of its processes for most of
human history have led to many different traditions and cultural rituals for dealing with death.
Sacrifices
Sacrifice ("to make sacred") includes the practice of offering the lives of animals or people to the
gods, as an act of
propitiation or
worship. The practice of sacrifice is found in the
oldest human records, and the
archaeological record finds corpses, both animal and human, that show marks of having been sacrificed and have been dated to long before any records.
Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient
cultures. The practice has varied between different civilizations, with some like the
Aztecs being notorious for their ritual killings, while others have looked down on the practice. Victims ranging from prisoners to infants to
virgins were killed to please their
gods, suffering such fates as burning, beheading and being buried alive.
Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing of an animal as practised by many religions as a means of appeasing a god or
spiritual being, changing the course of nature or divining the future. Animal sacrifice has occurred in almost all cultures, from the
Hebrews to the
Greeks and
Romans to the
Yoruba. Over time human and animal sacrifices have become less common in the world, such that modern sacrifices are rare. Most religions condemn the practice of human sacrifices, and present day laws generally treat them as a criminal matter. Nonetheless traditional sacrifice rituals are still seen in less developed areas of the world where traditional beliefs and superstitions linger, including the sacrifice of human beings.
Philosophy, religion and mythology
Paradise
Faith in some form of
afterlife is an important aspect of many people's beliefs. Such beliefs are usually manifested as part of a religion, as they pertain to phenomena beyond the ordinary experience of the natural world. For example, one aspect of
Hinduism involves belief in a continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (
Samsara) and the liberation from the cycle (
Moksha).
Eternal return is a non-religious concept proposing an infinitely recurring cyclic universe, which relates to the subject of the afterlife and the nature of
consciousness and
time. Though various evidence has been advanced in attempts to demonstrate the reality of an afterlife, these claims have never been validated. For this reason, the material or metaphysical existence of an afterlife remains a matter outside the scope of
science.
Green flags, the color of Islam, mark a graveyard in southeast Afghanistan.
Many
cultures have incorporated a
god of death into their
mythology or
religion. As death, along with
birth, is among the major parts of human life, these deities may often be one of the most important deities of a religion. In some religions with a single powerful deity as the source of worship, the
death deity is an antagonistic deity against which the primary deity struggles.
In
polytheistic religions or mythologies which have a
complex system of deities governing various natural phenomena and aspects of human life, it is common to have a deity who is assigned the function of presiding over death. The inclusion of such a "departmental" deity of death in a religion's pantheon is not necessarily the same as the glorification of death which is commonly condemned by the use of the term "death-worship" in modern political
rhetoric. In the theology of
monotheistic religion, the one god governs both life and death. However, in practice this manifests in different rituals and traditions and varies according to a number of factors including geography, politics, traditions and the influence of other religions.
Personification of death
Main articles: Death (personification)
Death has been
personified as a figure or
fictional character in
mythology and
popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of
civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of
recorded history. In
western culture, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large
scythe, and sometimes wearing a midnight black gown with a hood.
Examples of death personified are:
★ In modern-day European-based folklore, Death is known as the "
Grim Reaper" or "The grim spectre of death". This form typically wields a
scythe, and is sometimes portrayed riding a white horse.
★ In the
Middle Ages, Death was imagined as a decaying or
mummified human corpse, later becoming the familiar skeleton in a robe.
★ Death is sometimes portrayed in fiction and
occultism as
Azrael, the
angel of death (note that the name "Azrael" does not appear in any versions of either the
Bible or the
Qur'an).
★
Father Time is sometimes said to be Death.
★ A
psychopomp is a spirit, deity, or other being whose task is to conduct the souls of the recently dead into the afterlife.
The number 4 in East Asia
In
China,
Japan, and
Korea the
number 4 is often associated with death because the sound of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean words for ''four'' and ''death'' are similar (for example, the sound ''sì'' in Chinese is the
Sino-Korean number 4 (四), whereas ''sǐ'' is the word for death (死). For this reason, hospitals and hotels often omit the 4th, 14th, 24th, floors (etc.), or substitute the number '4' with the letter 'F'. Koreans are buried under a mound standing vertical in coffins made from six planks of wood. Four of the planks represent their respective four
cardinal points of the compass, while a fifth represents sky and the sixth represents earth. This relates back to the importance that the
Confucian society placed upon the four cardinal points having mystical powers.
Glorification of and fascination with death
Whether because of its very poetic nature or because of the great mystery it presents, or both, death is and has very often been glorified in many cultures through many different means. War, crime, revenge, martyrdom, suicide and many other forms of violence involving death are often glorified by different media, often in modern times being glorified even in spite of the attempts at
depicting death meant to be de-glorifying. For example, film critic
Roger Ebert mentions in a number of articles that Francis Truffaut makes the claim it's impossible to make an
anti-war film, as any depiction of war ends up glorifying it. The most prevalent and permanent form of death's glorification is through artistic expression. Through song, such as
Knockin' on Heaven's Door or
Bullet in the Head, many artists show death through poetic analogy or even as a poetic analogy, as in the latter mentioned song. Events such as
The Charge of the Light Brigade and
The Battle of the Alamo have served as inspirations for artistic depictions of and myths regarding death.
Perception of glory in death is subjective and can even differ wildly from one member of a group to another. Religion plays a key role, especially in terms of expectations of an afterlife. Personal and perceptions about mode of death are also important factors. One person's martyr could be another person's waste of life.
See also
References
1. DeBano, L.F., D.G. Neary, P.F. Ffolliot (1998) ''Fire’s Effects on Ecosystems''. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, New York, USA.
2. Guns, Germs, and Steel, , Jared, Diamond, W. W. Norton, , ISBN 0-393-31755-2
3. Newman, Mark. "A Mathematical Model for Mass Extinction". Cornell University. May 20 1994. URL accessed July 30 2006.
4. Raup, David M. ''Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?'' W.W. Norton and Company. New York. 1991. pp.3-6 ISBN 978-0393309270
5. Species disappearing at an alarming rate, report says. MSNBC. URL accessed July 26 2006.
6. Wilson, E.O., ''The Future of Life'' (2002) (ISBN 0-679-76811-4). See also: Leakey, Richard. ''The Sixth Extinction: Patterns of Life and the Future of Humankind'' (ISBN 0-385-46809-1 ).
7. World Health Organization (WHO). Tuberculosis Fact sheet N°104 - Global and regional incidence. March 2006, Retrieved on 6 October 2006.
8. Longevity dividend: What should we be doing to prepare for the unprecedented aging of humanity?, , , SJ Olshanksy et al, The Scientist, 2006
9. What do doctors find meaningful about their work?, Horowitz C, Suchman A, Branch W, Frankel R, , , Ann Intern Med, 2003
10. In search of a good death: observations of patients, families, and providers, Steinhauser K, Clipp E, McNeilly M, Christakis N, McIntyre L, Tulsky J, , , Ann Intern Med, 2000
11. Inconsistency over time in the preferences of older persons with advanced illness for life-sustaining treatment, Fried TR, O'leary J, Van Ness P, Fraenkel L, , , Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2007
12. On saying goodbye: acknowledging the end of the patient-physician relationship with patients who are near death, Back A, Arnold R, Tulsky J, Baile W, Fryer-Edwards K, , , Ann Intern Med, 2005
13. Lautrette A, Darmon M, Megarbane B, Joly LM, Chevret S, Adrie C et al. A communication strategy and brochure for relatives of patients dying in the ICU. N Engl J Med. 2007 February 1;356(5):469-78. PMID 17267907
14. Disconnecting a ventilator at the request of a patient who knows he will then die: the doctor's anguish, Edwards M, Tolle S, , , Ann Intern Med, 1992
15. Technology transfer and continuity of care by a "consultant", Petty T, , , Ann Intern Med, 2000
16. Shot at Dawn, campaign for pardons for British and Commonwealth soldiers executed in World War I
17. Otterbein, Keith, 2004, How War Began. Texas A&M University Press.
18. The Epidemiology of Teen Suicide: An Examination of Risk Factors, , D.J., Shaffer, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 1988
19. How can suicide be prevented?
'Additional references:'
★
POSTMORTEM CHANGES AND TIME OF DEATH
★ Vass AA (2001) Microbiology Today 28: 190-192 at:
[2]
★ Piepenbrink H (1985) J Archaeolog Sci 13: 417-430
★ Piepenbrink H (1989) Applied Geochem 4: 273-280
★ Child AM (1995) J Archaeolog Sci 22: 165-174
★ Hedges REM & Millard AR (1995) J Archaeolog Sci 22: 155-164
★
Death in Ancient China: The Tale of One Man's Journey, , C, Cook, Brill Publishers, ,
★ Maloney, George, A., S.J. (1980) ''The Everlasting Now: Meditations on the mysteries of life and death as they touch us in our daily lives''. ISBN 0877932018
External links
★
★
Death (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
★
Doctors Change the Way They Think About Death
★
Freeview Video 'Defying Death' by the Vega Science Trust and the BBC/OU (
RealMedia)
★
Odds of dying from various injuries or accidents Source:
National Safety Council, United States, 2001
★
Causes of Death
★
Causes of Death 1916 How the medical profession categorized causes of death a century ago.
★
George Wald: The Origin of Death A biologist explains life and death in different kinds of organisms in relation to evolution.
★
Death and Dying Online Informational site about death and dying.
★
The Great Unknown - Some Views of the Afterlife
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