Hw #29

Illness and dying overall leading to death, something we all try to prolong even though death is the one thing promised to all of us. The process of dying is not only significant to the person who is dying but also the people who experience the process. The book I read, My brother by Jamaica Kincaid help show the observers/family side of the process of dying. Most people think of the experience of dying to be full with love and regrets but Jamaica helped show another side; “I wasn’t there because I loved my brother but because I felt pity.”(My Brother, 88) Death may bring people together but doesn’t necessarily increase the amount of love shared between one another.

Which process seems more important, terminal illness or death itself? Majority of people would say that death its self is more important. Without the terminal illness there would be nothing leading to death besides natural causes. People tend to prolong death as long as they can but, “When someone is ill no one mentions it, no one pays a visit; but if a person shall die, there is a big outpouring of people at the funeral.” (My Brother, 146)

“50 million people in the United states are without health care.”(Sicko) Health care is very significant to one’s health and in this country our health care isn't living up to our potential. “American medicine remains the envy if the world...Yet the same country has constructed a health care system that is wasteful.” (Landmark, 65) Healthcare is supposed to be aiding us but in most ways they are taking from us. Leaving people in debt and giving people false hope for care when a good percentage of people are denied care.

When people think about hospitals they think about people who are ill or people who are injured. People also believe that this would be the best place for the person to be. Most people believe that when people enter the hospital they will leave the hospital in good health but, “Today more Americans die in hospitals than anywhere else.” (A time to die, 25) Even though that most hospitals try their best to help everyone, everyone is not aided, “Boston's Largest medical Facility was closing its emergency room to patients 45 hours per week.” (Sick, Intro) Now and for years to come, the health care we receive is not the health care we deserve.

Sources: Landmark. Public affairs. New York.2010

  And a time to die: How Americas Hospitals 

  My Brother By Jamaica Kincaid