‘The Bad Death’: Deciphering and Developing the Dominant Discourse on ‘The Good Death’

Abstract

This chapter explores the notion of ‘bad death’ overlooked in much of contemporary literature within palliative care and the sociology of death and dying, which has conventionally concerned itself with and been devoted to developing or investigating the idea of ‘good death’. In the chapter, the author conceptually outlines five forms of ‘bad death’ – dying unexpectedly, dying unprepared/unresolved, dying painfully, dying alone and dying undignified – and illustrates and discusses each of them conceptually, theoretically and empirically based on insight from existing research. The purpose of the chapter is thus to shed light on the neglected ‘bad death’ and to show how a focus on avoiding ‘bad deaths’ may provide a fruitful pathway for arriving at some sort of ‘good death’ or ‘not so bad death’. Moreover, the chapters urges us to consider how instead of being professionally and academically preoccupied with ‘best practice’ as an ideal, we might ponder what can be learned from contemplating and studying ‘worst cases’ when it comes to death and dying.