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  • Essay / Death and Dying in TV Shows

    Death is all around us. It is as natural as living and it happens in different ways. We base how we deal with death on the situation. Using examples from the television shows Orange is the New Black and Scrubs, I will discuss our society's understanding of death and dying by comparing dying in hospitals and prisons. The depictions of these shows are quite accurate, since they are still fiction, I will also reference the similarities to Dickinson and Leming's Dying, Death, and Bereavement articles to support my examples. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Hospitals see death, arguably, more than anywhere else. Scrubs explores this reality and how employees mentally deal with death. In the world of doctors and nurses, caring for the sick and dying is a daily job. Although this work can be overwhelming, it teaches that death is inevitable and a part of life. Funeral directors also recount their experiences of death (Wilde 128), so doctors are not the only ones who frequently deal with death. In this show, JD experiences death in the first days of his work as a resident. Her patient refuses dialysis, claiming that she is at the end of her life and that saving her life at this stage is useless. The same day, Turk's patients and Elliot, JD's friends, also die. Unlike JD, they had tried to save their patients who ended up dying anyway. This teaches the three doctors a valuable lesson that day; they must learn to consider death on a daily basis. They learn that they can delay death, but they cannot stop it. Everyone working in medical sciences must deal with health-related problems, which regularly involve the possibility of death. And this implies responsibility for the lives of patients. When it is part of professional expectations, it is reasonable for doctors to feel remorse when a patient dies on time. Dr. Cox feels guilty about the death of a patient he had been treating for some time. He temporarily released his patient to JD because he was busy, and the patient died within that time frame. He blames himself and has difficulty forgiving himself. Similarly, in “The Promise of Presence,” Dr. Rousseau also feels like he has failed in his life (82). This is indeed a problem in the medical field. Trying to save everyone is an impossible goal, but doctors try to achieve this goal with every dying patient. Death is inevitable and mistakes happen, even among professionals. It is natural to be blamed when it comes to patient care. Although this is a reality, it should not deter doctors from trying to save future patients. Compassion is necessary in the medical field. Truly caring for patients is essential to the job. The only question is how compassionate doctors should be. One of JD's patients will die in the night and will have no family to accompany him. JD forgets about it at first, since he had made plans with Turk that night. However, JD and Turk then decide to spend the night with him and discuss life and death all night. The two doctors realize that death terrifies them even though they see it every day. The patient is also terrified, but feels comfortable knowing he is going to die. He may have been able to accept it alone, even if it was in his favor to spend his last hours in company. Even.