Kubler-Ross, an authority on death

LOS ANGELES – Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist who helped shape the public discourse about death and dying, and a champion of the hospice movement, has died in Scottsdale, Arizona.

She was 78. The Swiss-born psychiatrist is credited with lifting the taboo on talking about death and dying through her books and her work with medical professions.’On Death and Dying’, released in 1969, revolutionised commonly held understandings of terminal illness and death and popularised the theory that the dying go through five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.A prolific writer, she published more than 20 books on the subject of death, and was a tireless advocate for the idea that the medical profession should address the fears and anxieties of dying patients, as well as their ailments.”She helped break the taboo on talking about death, dying and bereavement,” said Stephen Connor, a close friend and vice president of research of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Arlington, Virginia.”In her workshops, she encouraged people to confront their own mortality and put themselves in the place of the dying.”Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Kubler-Ross studied medicine at the University of Zurich, according to her website.She married an American doctor and in 1958 the couple moved to the United States, where Kubler-Ross continued her studies in New York, completing her degree in psychiatry at the University of Colorado in 1963.But she was appalled by the standard treatment of dying patients in one New York hospital, remarking:”They were shunned and abused, nobody was honest with them.”Unlike her colleagues, she made it a point to sit with terminal patients, listening as they poured out their hearts to her.She began giving lectures featuring dying patients who talked about what they were going through.Of her first book ‘On Death and Dying’, Kubler-Ross said:”My goal was to break through the layer of professional denial that prohibited patients from airing their inner-most concerns.”She was not always embraced by the medical or academic establishment – the University of Chicago denied her tenure – but she came to be revered by many in the hospice movement, and her ground-breaking work has had a profound influence on public awareness of a subject that was once untouchable, according to critics.She was the recipient of more than twenty honorary doctorates, according to her website.Her publishing credits include ‘To Live Until We Say Good-Bye’, ‘On Children and Death’, ‘AIDS the Ultimate Challenge’ and her autobiography, ‘The Wheel of Life’.Her books have been translated into more than 25 languages.Kubler-Ross died of natural causes on Tuesday last week, Connor said.According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, she died in an assisted living centre, surrounded by family.- Nampa-AFPThe Swiss-born psychiatrist is credited with lifting the taboo on talking about death and dying through her books and her work with medical professions.’On Death and Dying’, released in 1969, revolutionised commonly held understandings of terminal illness and death and popularised the theory that the dying go through five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.A prolific writer, she published more than 20 books on the subject of death, and was a tireless advocate for the idea that the medical profession should address the fears and anxieties of dying patients, as well as their ailments.”She helped break the taboo on talking about death, dying and bereavement,” said Stephen Connor, a close friend and vice president of research of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Arlington, Virginia.”In her workshops, she encouraged people to confront their own mortality and put themselves in the place of the dying.”Born in Zurich, Switzerland, Kubler-Ross studied medicine at the University of Zurich, according to her website.She married an American doctor and in 1958 the couple moved to the United States, where Kubler-Ross continued her studies in New York, completing her degree in psychiatry at the University of Colorado in 1963.But she was appalled by the standard treatment of dying patients in one New York hospital, remarking:”They were shunned and abused, nobody was honest with them.”Unlike her colleagues, she made it a point to sit with terminal patients, listening as they poured out their hearts to her.She began giving lectures featuring dying patients who talked about what they were going through.Of her first book ‘On Death and Dying’, Kubler-Ross said:”My goal was to break through the layer of professional denial that prohibited patients from airing their inner-most concerns.”She was not always embraced by the medical or academic establishment – the University of Chicago denied her tenure – but she came to be revered by many in the hospice movement, and her ground-breaking work has had a profound influence on public awareness of a subject that was once untouchable, according to critics.She was the recipient of more than twenty honorary doctorates, according to her website.Her publishing credits include ‘To Live Until We Say Good-Bye’, ‘On Children and Death’, ‘AIDS the Ultimate Challenge’ and her autobiography, ‘The Wheel of Life’.Her books have been translated into more than 25 languages.Kubler-Ross died of natural causes on Tuesday last week, Connor said.According to the Arizona Republic newspaper, she died in an assisted living centre, surrounded by family.- Nampa-AFP