The way "a person goes through the process of dying and accepts death is closely related to the way the person's society and culture view the process. A person's family, cultural values, social and medical institutions are all factors that form part of the context in which individuals die" (Dickinson and Leming 13). In past years, death was an accepted and natural part of life. Unlike today, death was common to occur at home with family and friends present.

Advances in health, medicine and medical technology, however, have reduced people's contact with death. Currently, most people rely on hospitals or nursing homes to take care of the dying (Dickinson and Leming 14). Sociologists Michael R. Leming and George E. Dickinson hold that Americans tend to use euphemisms for death, such as "passed away," due to their inability to accept death. "People seldom mention death directly" (13). Nevertheless, death is a reality...