week ten_the changing attitude

In the lecture today, professor mentioned about the so called taboo in Chinese culture that when someone is severely ill, his or her family members usually see breaking the bad news to the patient is a bad thing. Despite the fact that according to the statistic, most people want the truth about their own health instead white lies given by their family out of good wish.

Time has changed, the topic of death is no longer something unspeakable. But  social culture seems still admit the traditional value that death is something bad that can never be broke especially in front of the person him or herself experiencing the process of death. In fact, this taboo is not necessary at all. Just like what we have experienced in the former two interviews, talking about death is not as tabooed as we what may think. Traditional believes also tell us that good people would deserve a good life condition after their death (so to be positive and to consider less, as long as we keep being good persons, we needn't be afraid of death :D). Open attitude towards death like this also act as the same role in terms of this problem in modern society.

Come to the perspective of patients themselves, they should be given fully right to know the health condition of themselves, and only in this way can they then decide how to react and then what to do. Making decision for other people somehow equals to exploiting the basic rights of other people. Now that society and reality have both been open to diseases and death, then why we still want to put it aside from normal life, especially in these vital cases?