Tuesdays With Morrie, sportswriter Mitch Albom's nonfiction account of his relationship with a college professor dying of Lou Gehrig disease, has been a New York Times best-seller since October 1997. At 33, with a doctorate in developmental psychology, the energetic professor isn't there to provide therapy, although she imagines a sort of therapy happens. Her students visit Seaside Memorial Park and Funeral Home. But they go home and start talking. Language, Biedenharn says, holds death at a distance.
Medical professionals avoid words, too.
Carolyn Jaffe believes a slight distinction in words symbolizes a significant distinction in attitude. She helped found Hospice of Metro Denver in 1978. They died. . . . Everyone is so afraid to say it even though we are all headed that way. No one wants to talk about it.