Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross -
a great loss to the pro-life community
Rochester Area Right To Life
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Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross - |
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Rochester Area Right To Life |
Dr Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the palliative care pioneer, has died at the age of 78. Dr Kubler-Ross became famous after the publication of her book 'On Death and Dying' based on her interviews with terminally ill patients, promoting the development of hospices and palliative care whilst opposing euthanasia. [Economist, 2 September, quoted by SPUC]
The pro-life movement is indebted to Dr Kubler-Ross, who made it clear in her lifetime that a human does not turn into a worthless object just because he is dying. The hospice movement is the stronger for her work and her convictions.
In one interview (http://www.healthy.net/asp/templates/interview.asp?PageType=Interview&ID=205), she answered the question "Is there any good reason to be afraid of dying?"
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ELISABETH KUBLER-ROSS: No, if you have enough
people who love you, who will see to it that your needs are met, so that if
you request to die at home you will be allowed to die at home. If you don't
want to die in a hospital, you should at least be able to go to a hospice. For that, you need a support system around you, people who really know you, because people don't volunteer that. You have to speak up as a patient. If you can't speak anymore, like I couldn't speak after my stroke, you need somebody who speaks up for you. I hope that when I die, if I can't speak anymore, that they at least let me go to my farm and die at home, where I can have a cup of coffee and a cigarette. Which is a bad habit, but I know it's a bad habit. |
On her own website
(
www.elisabethkublerross.com ),
there is an account of the tributes that have poured into her institute when the
news of her death was made public. Her book about death and dying made a
big splash, but much of her later life was not very public. She spent it
giving workshops and continuing work for her cause, stopping only because of
health problems.
Close to death, she is quoted as saying, "I am like a plane that has left
the gate and not taken off. I would rather go back to the gate or fly
away."
She flew away, leaving a job well done for us to benefit from.
Updated on RARTL September 2004
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