HW 55

 Death is a topic that should be looked into not only because its every where but because its part of life, and one cannot escape the inevitabale. I decided to look at the question of how we put a price tag on death, here in the U.S. When people people think of funerals they usually think of the greiving or the funeral itself, etc. but one thing people must consider is the cost of funerals nowadays. A little over 6000 deaths take place in the U.S a day, which is a lot of deaths. Also most people will be responsible for being incharge of a care of the dead for at least one person in thier life time, so this topic should be of some concern to people. There is a saying that goes "I cant afford to die". Which would be rightly said. An averge funeral in the U.S can cost about $6,500 according to the National Funeral Directors Assosiation. Some funerals have enen hit the numbers of $10,000 after adding in pricing of floral and limo. This by the way is a lot of money all of which is a bit unnessiccary. Isnt it odd that people have been convinced to spend a lot of money on an item that has a one time use, and you or anyone will proberably never see again?

When I heard this I thought that mabe this was a way for people to cope with not being active in the care of thier dead. In the past funerals were done by family, and it never occured to anyone else having to play a hand in the car of thier dead, but nowadys its the exact opposite people cant imagine dealing with thier decesed. Becasue families dealt with death themselves back in the days they were more involved and knew what was suposed to happen and were able to go threw the full experiance of death as a familiy. To day that doesnt happen so I feel that people try to make up for not helping by having big, glamourous, and highly expensive funerals to make up for thier lack of not being able to do much prior.

People can get stuck between a rock and a hard place pretty quickly when it comes to a funeral. In one hand they dont want to rack up debt by paying a large amount of money for a funeral but on the other hand one can feel abliged to pay alot for fear that they are honoring the dead and dont want to seem like they dont care about their loved one. Im not saying to just throw a body somwhere but to consider options.
 You needn't go into debt in order to honor the dead, however. In many parts of the country, a loved one can be laid to rest with dignity for less, by using creativity. Even those who favor a traditional funeral and burial can save hundreds or thousands of dollars by taking a few simple steps. So I thought that instead of me just stating what is wrong I would also show what "can" be done, in order to save money. Here are some steps to follow:

Plan ahead. Talk about death with your spouse and/or parents. Know what they want and commit those wishes to paper. Do they want to be cremated shortly after death with no ceremony? Or do they want a large funeral with a choir -- but absolutely no fancy headstone? Lack of communication is costly.

"There's more psychological baggage surrounding death than any other emotion or life experience -- even sex. And that's why we pay a high price," says Karen Leonard, a researcher for "The American Way of Death Revisited," the update of Jessica Mitford's landmark 1963 muckraking exposé of the funeral industry.

Know your rights. The Federal Trade Commission's "Funeral Rule" requires mortuaries to present a price list of services to consumers before showing them products such as caskets. A new FTC brochure that summarizes your rights is "Paying Final Respects: Your Rights When Buying Funeral Goods and Services." Another detailed but very readable overview is the FTC brochure "Funerals: A Consumer Guide."

Shop around. Many survivors also don't shop around for deals because they consider bargain hunting an affront to the dead. Getting fleeced, however, is hardly a tribute. Even a few quick calls to compare prices once a relative dies can be worthwhile.

"Most people choose a funeral home for the wrong reasons: It's close to their house, or it has served their family in the past," says Joshua Slocum, executive director of the Funeral Consumers Alliance. "The range of prices offered by various funeral homes for comparable services is incredibly wide."

The same funeral package that costs $6,000 at one mortuary can be $2,500 across town, says Slocum.

The $800 (or less) funeral

Though prices vary widely around the country, consumer advocates say a sub-$800 funeral is possible in most places. It requires cremation, however, which now occurs in about a third of all deaths. Here's how:

Choose "direct cremation." Direct cremation simply means that the deceased is promptly cremated, without a funeral service or viewing. Direct cremation usually includes transport of the body, cremation and a cardboard or plastic container for the ashes. Embalming -- the temporary preservation of the body by injecting chemicals -- is usually unnecessary if the body is promptly cremated. Avoiding this expense can save several hundred dollars.

Be sure to ask whether the cost of direct cremation includes the crematory fee; that can cost an additional several hundred dollars.

Even cremation prices can vary -- a lot. In a 2007 survey of prices at 170 funeral homes in western and central Washington state, the nonprofit People's Memorial Association found that the price for simple cremation in the Seattle area ranged from $425 to more than $2,800.

Select the simplest casket. Buying a $5,000 mahogany casket if a loved one's body is soon to be burned to ashes makes little sense. The Funeral Rule requires a funeral home to offer a cost-effective alternative such as an unfinished coffin or a heavy cardboard enclosure to house the body for its trip to the crematorium, where it will be burned along with the body. Ask for one. No state or local law requires a casket for cremation.

Ask the funeral home if a casket can be rented if the body is to be viewed before cremation.

If the total cost of direct cremation is more than $1,000 or so, even in the most expensive areas, "that's not a fair price," says Slocum. "This is not a lot of work for the funeral director." In many places the price should be closer to $600, Leonard says.

Avoid a big-ticket urn and columbarium. Vessels to store the deceased's ashes can easily cost hundreds -- sometimes thousands -- of dollars.

"Some funeral homes try to guilt families into buying more-expensive urns by stamping 'temporary container' on the outside of the cardboard or plastic box that the remains are returned in," Slocum says.

Don't be pressured into buying a lavish urn, says Lisa Carlson, a consumer advocate and the author of "Caring for the Dead: Your Final Act of Love." Or, eschew an urn for a tasteful piece of pottery or other vessel, Carlson recommends. And scattering the ashes in the ocean or on a favorite mountain -- or simply keeping them at home -- can save thousands of dollars for a burial plot or a columbarium, a building that holds ashes.

Create your own memorial. Elaborate services held in a rented mortuary chapel can be expensive and feel awkward, say Leonard and others. She recommends holding a memorial service, without the body, in a place that meant much to the deceased -- a church, a Fraternal Order of Eagles hall, the family's beach house, a park or an art gallery. Instead of lavish flowers, decorate with mementos that evoke the person's life -- photo albums, Dad's golf clubs, diplomas, perhaps some favorite foods.

Join the Funeral Consumers Alliance or a memorial society. In addition to providing information about funeral options in their area, the 110 memorial societies nationwide that are affiliated with the nonprofit Funeral Consumers Alliance frequently arrange discount funerals with local mortuaries.

For example, for a $25 lifetime membership in the Seattle-area People's Memorial Association, the nation's largest co-op with nearly 100,000 members, a person is able to purchase a $649 direct cremation -- about 50% cheaper than some "list" prices, says former Executive Director Carolyn Hayek. Members also receive discounts on more elaborate options. Tired of high prices, the group even opened a member-owner funeral home recently.

Saying goodbye. Some people need to physically say goodbye to a loved one. That still doesn't necessitate embalming. If relatives live nearby, "it costs nothing to have the family gather around the body at the time of death, as compared to a formal viewing at a funeral home," says Hayek, formerly of People's Memorial Association. If the person dies at home, "you do not have to immediately call the funeral home to pick up the body."

Caskets. One of the best places to save money on funeral services is the casket. No other single item is so expensive. A metal casket today now costs more than $2,000. Go to a funeral home and find an appropriate casket, then call others in town and comparison-shop. Prices can sometimes vary by hundreds of dollars. Skip the caskets with special seals that can raise a casket's price by several hundred dollars; no seal will preserve the dead. Even greater savings can be found by shopping on the Web, where companies will sell the same caskets at less than half the price the funeral homes do and ship the casket to a funeral home overnight or in a few days.

Also consider bypassing high-end metal and wooden coffins entirely. You can purchase a simple, well-crafted pine casket at 5% of the cost of the most opulent polished bronze coffin. It will be more kind to the environment and ultimately will serve the dead just as well.

Clothing. Bury the deceased person in his or her favorite clothes, rather than in a new suit.

Grave liners and vaults. Most cemeteries require that a coffin in a grave must be surrounded by concrete walls so that the ground doesn't settle over time. These "grave liners," though simple, can cost a few hundred dollars. Call funeral homes to find the best price. Don't be pressured into buying a "burial vault," a more extensive liner that can cost much more but is unnecessary, say consumer advocates.

 I also looked at survey numbers  for peoples views on funerals.Other survey findings include the following:
1. Funerals matter more than ever
* 92% of those 40 and older said the funeral industry provides meaning and value to the arrangement process, an increase from 86% in 2004
* 95% said that the service was helpful in paying tribute to or commemorating the life of a loved one, a 6% increase from 2004
* 87% said that the service was an important part in helping them begin the healing process after the death of a loved one, a 9-point increase from 2004
 Why does this matter? This means more and more people are relizing that funerals are important, and if more people are going to have and prepare for funerals they should be knowledge able in this area.
The $11 billion-a-year industry is largely comprised of privately run firms, with 89 percent of all funeral homes being owned by families, individuals or small independent corporations. What this means, that the cost of tradition has just gotten a profit motive. Paul Dwyer, who has worked a consultant on the funeral industry for 25 years, said that although satisfaction rates were high there was evidence that the unique circumstances of its work allowed prices to rise more rapidly than in other services.

"A funeral is a purchase that is often made suddenly – it is very much a distress purchase," he said. "The overwhelming majority of people just go to one funeral director and take the price they are given. People are uncomfortable with shopping around. Customer surveys show that the industry does a fine job - 75 per cent rate the service at eight out of ten or above – but there is just not the commercial pressure, which in turn means that prices creep up."

 Although funeral homes seem to forget that they are dealing with people who would not like to go in debt there are some funerals that listen to peoples respects. Denise Kantor, from Cruse Bereavement, the country’s largest bereavement charity, said people should not overly worry about whether they can afford a funeral. "Most funeral directors will bend over backwards to accommodate your needs because they understand this is not shopping in M&S, they're dealing with real and raw emotions," she said. Although funeral homes are based on a profit motive there are some that relize they are still dealing with greiving people. In school we had a guest vistors come in that work in the funeral field. Although they could only talk for his company in specific they relized this is an emotionally unstable time in the decesed family member's lives, and said thier soul perpose at work is to try to better serve the people and get involved in each case as best as they can. One of them said that they get so involed they she cried at a funeral for which she didnt even no the man personally, but was there emotionally for the wife. In conclusion one should be aware of the options given to them and should not be afraid to dig around a topic that affects most people. Most importantly people should be wise in the way they go about this process(Care of the dead), not only for the decesed but for one self as well.

Citaions:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/PlanYourEstate/HowToPlanAFuneral.aspx
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7762640.stm
http://www.mindbranch.com/Funeral-Homes-Competitive-R237-201/
http://funeralhomecolumbiasc.com/study/
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/funeral-costs-jump-but-too-few-will-haggle-1784311.html

HW 52

Precis:
 June Knights Nadle: Morticians Diaries: Nadle gives a recollection of true stories from her career as a mortician, starting each chapter explaining how death impacted her life and ending them with a story from a client then her final thoughts on it. She writes hoping to give insight to death and to show from a perspective of dead-honest truth from a life spent with death
Quotes:
 "....Eric would learn and grow from this death. Events such as this help most of us to mature, becoming more aware of the fragility of life and better appreciating our loved ones while they are still with us" (pg 97)

"Somtimes we worry so much about our reputaion that we put what others think before what's really important in life: the people we love most."(pg 102)

" Somtimes in life we learn things the hardest way"(pg 108)

"Confronting this reality [death] brings with it a kind of peace that denial never offers. It allows us to imbrace life, in all its fleeting glory and suffering" (pg 130)

  The final third of the book was about how to learn and grow from death and care of the dead.  This one story tells of a person who was gay but because of his choise his parents rejected him. Little did they know  his time was about to be up due to AIDS. When he did die his parents felt horrible for not getting intouch with their son and learned that life is to short to hold grudges. In another story a father was tormented by the death of his daughter because of how he treated her. Because he was diapointed in the fact that his child was a girl and not a boy he took it out on her but when she died he was tormeented for the words he could not take back. It was made aware that people in the U.S try to hide death by not being involved and letting others take care of our loved ones. Also becasue of the emotional shock death brings to those who shun it, they fear it. The following quote answers why very well:
"Confronting this reality [death] brings with it a kind of peace that denial never offers. It allows us to imbrace life, in all its fleeting glory and suffering" (pg 130)
 I agree with this quote, when people try to deny the inevitable, they will be thrown for a loop when it happens. Some people take life for granted and are especially devistated at the loss of a loved one. When we accept it as part of life, for which it is, one can not only know how to understand how to deal with death but how to apprecaite life for all its worth and enjoy the short time we have alive. This reminds me of the food unit in the way it showed how understanding can lead to enjoyment. When I began the food unit I thought it was simple, you eat food, some is good for you and some is bad. Even though I knew this I didnt elaborate and remained ignorant in my food way, partly because I did not want to find fault in the way I was living. As the unit went on and I saw the opposing view points I learned to see the nightmare behind my  foodways and made changes to it, and becasue of so was not only happy but wiser in my food ways.

HW 51

Precis:
 June Knights Nadle: Morticians Diaries: Nadle gives a recollection of true stories from her career as a mortician, starting each chapter explaining how death impacted her life and ending them with a story from a client then her final thoughts on it. She writes hoping to give insight to death and to show from a perspective of dead-honest truth from a life spent with death

Quotes:
"A funeral is a pause in our life to acknowledge that a life has been lived. It allows mourners to remeber and honor that life in a special way. It is a chance for family and friends to gather and give emotional and and physical support to one another. It provides closure for some It brings to all of our minds the reality and finality of death" (pg 52)
"I had to accept the fact that trails are just part of life" (pg 42)


The second part of the book really focused on the importance of the funeral itself. Although funerals are made for the dead the are to be experianced for the living. The author gives examples of people who . One of them was a woman named Mary, she was at her sons funeral and then a gang related drive-by happened, although advised not to go she knew the importance of greiving and still went even thought there was a chance of another drive-by. There was another lady who had lost her husband but he didnt want a funeral although he didnt want one she said she needed one, which was true. Before that she was in a mental rut in her life but after they had a nice funeral she was able to move on with her life after getting closure. Anotheer example was the lady who lost her husband but was mad at him, because she was left with three boys to take care of. At first she didnt care what happened to her husbands creamated remains and told the mortician to throw it anywhere, but the mortician did not and waited for the lady to get an answer. Later she came back glad to find the creamains left because she actually wanted them buried so her longing boy can be with thier father. The lady realized she was being selfish and that funerals affected more then just her. All these examples showed that the funeral was very impportant and that had they not wanted or attended it, its effects on the coping and healing would be stumped.

HW 49

Lora,
One thing that stuck out to me was when you interviewed the second guy, and got his answer. I don't think I ever heard of that kind of funeral before and it kind of stuck out to me because this whole time I kept only thinking about burial and cremation and totally forgot that there are other options, and some are very "unique"! It made me wonder what makes a burial a burial. This was a good post but maybe next you could put your connections to yourself in a summery paragraph( to help the reader).

Alex,
Its cool that you focused on the "why" in your interview. Although it is import to know what are the options in the care  of the dead, I think it is very important to know "why" which made your post interesting. One suggestion would be to put your opinion on the topic in (if you can), but other then that it was a good read.

Beatrice,
I like the day of the dead concept that you brought up because to many times people put a loved one in a casket and then purposely try to forget because of the shock that has come to them , sometimes partly because people are scared of death and don't want to accept it as something that happens, but in Mexico they have a day just for that. I also like the idea you brought up at the end about "not really dying", its an interesting way to look at it. Overall I liked this post.

HW 50

Precis:
June Knights Nadle: Mortician Diaries: June Nadle gives a recollection of true stories from her career as a mortician, starting each chapter explaining how death impacted her life and ending them with a story from a client then her final thoughts on it. She writes hoping to give insight to death and to show from a perspective of dead-honest truth from a life spent with death.

Interesting Quotes:
"The death rate in this world is one per person" (pg 1)
"When we don't live in awareness about deaths inevibility, its finality brings with it so many wishes and regrets."(pg 3)
"Shock can be natures anesthetic, numbing our intense pain." (pg 24)
"The more we know about death the less we fear it. And when fear isn't blocking us were better prepared to deal with whatever life (and death) sends our way." (pg 32)

Something that I found interesting that was discussed during the first part of the book was all the example stories that the author gives during the book she connected back to her life.  like when she dealt with the mother that wouldnt let go of her baby, although it had been dead for 5 hour. She felt compassion because she also was a mom. Or when she helped the lady who lost the family pet. She related it to herself when she wondered what would happen if she had lost her own family pet. When I read this I also thought what happens if I lose my dog also? Because she relates it back to herself, it helps one to bring death in perspective to their own situation rather then an abstact thought. thats why I couldn't agree more with this quote:
"We undestand death for the first time when he puts his hand upon one whom we love- Madame de Stael

HW 48

For my family's perspective on care of the dead I interviewed my Mom and my sister. The first question I asked was what  kind of viewing would they have at their funeral, open casket or closed? Both my mom and my sister said they would like a open casket funeral because its the final time that any one will see them, and if anyone would like to see them and the casket was closed it would be rude to that person. After that I asked How important is it that a person be prepped in make up to look good at a viewing? My mom said that in her opinion its better if the dead person is presented to look good because since at the viewing this is the last time anyone will lay eyes on them they should have a very good last impression to be remembered by. My sister on the other hand said it is better that they look natural because there should be nothing to cover up since the person is dead and that death is a natural thing people should look as they should.

The next question I asked was do they agree with the statement: We are removed from the process of care of the dead? What I mean by this is the process in which we hire people to take care off and then removed the now deceased. Both of them agreed after thinking for a bit. My sister said because some people don't like to be near the dead because of the feelings they bring and get or the fact that its a bit gross. The next question was asked based off of the fact that people get removed from the process of the care of the dead.  If given the chance to help prep the body at a funeral would you? My sister immediately said no seeing how its weird and kind of gross. Even when I asked if it was a family member, she thought about it and still said no. My mom on the other hand said that if it was the will of the person that she could help she would, but as long as she didn't have to do too much with the face. 

When I interviewed my family I was expecting their answers to be some what similar to the dominant social practices of the U.S, and was somewhat surprised by some answers. Firstly I know people like to have the bodies at viewings look nice and almost alive (like they are just sleeping) but when I heard my sister say that it shouldn't be a big deal and that people should look natural at viewings I was surprised. Most surprisingly was my mom agreeing to help prep a body if asked. I know a lot of people who wouldn't even think twice about this since its very weird in the U.S, so hearing that took me by surprise , I'm not even sure if I would!

HW 46(This was a good one)

Caring of the dead is a weird topic because it combines two different states the living and the dead, for which the living handle the bodies of dead. Like what one of my classmates said "Its gross but sacred"(Sam Jossen). I defiantly agree with this statement, because people treat dead people with respect(there are certain things that the dominant view doesn't allow next to dead people), but then again its a decaying corpse that people don't want to be around. I think fear of the unknown plays a major role in the topic of death, and what makes it difficult to deal with is the fact that death connotes sadness, depression, and for some people anger. 

  

 With my experiences with the care of the dead, most of the funerals I've been to people want to be buried and when they die they want to be presented to look nice. You would think that because they dead it wouldn't matter, but apparently it does. Also my family and some friends view death as a happy thing rather then a sad thing. Because of our religion we believe if a person followed Jesus' teachings(not just living a good life) they will go to heaven. This does not mean we don't get sad that the person is no longer living, its just that its not as negative(unless the person went to hell).Caring of the dead is also unique not only because of what happens with the dead people but with how the living deal with the dead. For example why do we make people look more honorable after they are dead then when they were alive? You would think that it should be reverse but sadly it is not. Also because people try to hide death which is weird because, yet its every where. For example people try to hide death so much that they try to make dead people look alive even when they are dead(they make them look sleeping rather then dead at some funerals). 

 Something interesting that I thought of was brought up during class. When I was in class I was talking to a classmate and he asked why is it that we put dead people in the ground for a burial? That did make me wonder, but I remember hearing somewhere that one answer for this was that because from the ground we came and so unto the ground we shall return or something like that. This unit sounds interesting because of unique ways one can go about it and I know there is a lot to this topic I don't even know.

HW 45

 Thank you everyone who commented on my blog.  I glad to know that my presentation was enjoyable and made people want to read my blog. Also thanks for the positive feedback. One suggestion was given, and that was to give more of a personal opinion. For the suggestion given, I could have put a little bit more of my opinion in it but I felt that since birth is mainly between the mom and the baby, and since the decision was ultimately up to the mother, I would just thought it better to keep my opinion minimal and just give facts to help inform anyone who was thinking about the topic. For the next unit I'll be sure to try to give more of an opinion though. I'm glad that people took time to read my post and comment on it, it was both helpful and uplifting!

HW 44

Rigel,

Your presentation and post were very good and equal, what I mean is one didn't out shine the other.

 I liked the topic you picked because it bears a lot of weight and it connects to a lot of people. It was cool how you connected what was happening today with how it changed in the past. Also you showed how it connected to other topics like Sicko and how that America seems to treat sick people and birth as a buisness rather then care, which gave it more depth. Also the post was an ok read, and didn't have a choppy flow. One suggestion is you got just slightly of topic, not enough that it made the post uninteresting, but just watch for your next one. Good stuff other wise!

Chris M
 I thought it was interesting that you studied a topic that was specif to yourself because it gives the post a little more meaning. One reason why I wanted to read your blog is because it connected to mine, and it was cool to see how someone else looked at the same topic. Also, the way in which your post was formatted kept it interesting. Because it was an interview format along with a summary  it made it more unique because most of the other blogs were in the normal format , I'm not saying that other post were bad, its just that it made yours stand out a bit more. Your post seemed a little stronger than your speech but both your speech and post were interesting. A very good project overall!

Dean,
Your topic for the speech you did was very relevant to what we were learning. Although birth is between the mother and the baby, for the most part, it was good that you looked at what it took to be the doctor of the situation. What made me want to read this blog is the fact that it was something that we didn't focus on heavily in class, from the perspective of the midwives they made it look like the OB/GYN were mindless idiots who hacked away at mothers, but your speech told that it was hard to become one and that in a way, they deserved to be the doctors they are. Some suggestions I have for you would be that your post should be as powerful as your speech but other then that the presentation was good and informative!

HW 42 Pregnancy and Birth Project

 For a couple of weeks my class has been on the very relevant topic of birth. The outcome, there was a lot that not known about the topic of birth. When I wrote the list of things we should know like OB/GYN, mid wives, epidurals, and Natural birth I realized I was about to enter a unit in which I knew little to nothing! I still remember when birth was done by a bird(The Stork) that sneaked into one's house after a couple either kissed or held hands too long and left a "bundle of joy" on the unsuspecting new parents. So upon hearing all these technical terms for birth, my initial reaction was one of a blind deaf man trying to comprehend what a television is.  

What I am going to focus on in this project is a deeper comparison between home births and hospital births and see which one is the optimal choice to take during birth. And to shed light on the pros and also cons so that one can look at both sides of the argument. The reason I said that the topic of birth is a relevant topic is because about 10,657 babies are born in the U.S a day, so knowing the process in which that many new lives came to be in the world sounds important. Also one in four babies is delivered by C-section – almost double the World Health Organisation’s recommended rate. That figure rises to more than one in two at some private hospitals, so if the C-Sections are bad this is a big problem.
 During the time we were in the birthing unit we saw two films, one was pro home birth and the other was anti home birth. Of the movies I saw, I first saw the film was called "The Business of  being Born", which was correctly named since it showed how the birthing process at a hospital is more of a business than a place that really focuses on the miracle of birth and becoming an industrial nightmare'Why does it matter, if the baby comes out ok". This was a quote by a OB/GYN showing the industrial nightmare in todays birth. We are rapidly removing the sacredness out of birth. 
  The way that hospitals are like a business is seen in the way they do the "Pit" and "Snowball Effect". What Pit is is when nurses take over during the birth. This happens when a birth goes over the set amount of time given for the birth to take place. (I found that extremely interesting that people are given a set time to go through the birth process, even though "they are paying" for it.) Once they exceed the time limit the are put on "Pit" and then the "Snowball Effect" happens. The "Snowball Effect" is when epidural is given to the mother in labor which numbs her but slows the labor process down. Platocin is a chemical that is then given to speed up the labor again but then epidural is injected once more to numb and calm the mother. This slows down the labor again which causes the need for more platocin.  By now the babies heart rate is increasing rapidly due to the strong contractions from all that platocin in the mothers body, which puts the baby in distress and ultimately leads to the now necessary C-section. The weird part about this is after the "necessary" C-section is done the doctor is viewed as the hero for saving the child, when in actuality the doctor is the one responsible for this in the beginning.

 After seeing the first video one might think , just as I did, that there are no flaws with home birth, but as the second video implies, there is. It told of a story of a woman and her husband who had a horrible midwife experience in which their baby died. The mother was in labor for four days and when the baby came out it pronounced dead from being strangled by the umbilical. The video showed that the midwife should have noticed that something was wrong and should have taken some sort of course of action( I'm no doctor but I think that a woman in labor for four days needs to go to a hospital).
 I wanted to research the comparisons between home births and hospital births and see which had more pros and which had more cons since both the movies made me really consider which was better.

Advantages of home birth...

• Statistics show that home birth is as safe or safer than hospital birth for low-risk women with adequate prenatal care and a qualified attendant.
• At home a woman can labor and birth in the privacy and comfort of the familiar surroundings of her own home, surrounded by loved-ones. in whatever positions and attire she finds most comfortable.
• The laboring woman maintains control over everything impacting her labor and birth. Meeting her needs is the only focus of all those present. Nothing is done to her without her consent.
• Labor is allowed to progress normally, without interference and unnecessary interventions.
• Studies show that the risk of infection is reduced for both the mother and the baby.
• During labor the woman is encouraged to eat, drink, walk, change positions, make noise, shower, bathe, etc.
• Care-givers are invited guests in the birthing woman's home. She can have anyone she desires present: family, friends, children, etc. Her medical team (midwife and birth assisiant) do not go home because their shift has ended or because it was supposed to be their day off or because it is a holiday or because they planned something else.
• She doesn't have to worry about when to go to the hospital since her care-providers come to her.
• Continuous one-on-one care is given by the midwife, providing ongoing assessment of the baby's and mother's condition throughout the birth process and postpartum period. Her care provider knows her well and she knows her care provider. They have established a trust relationship.
• Women are supported through the hard work of labor, and encouraged to realize the insights, and experience the personal growth as a human being to be derived from such a powerful, life-changing event.
• Bonding is enhanced and includes everyone who has contact with the baby including neighbors and relatives. Breast feeding is facilitated by the baby remaining with the mother.
• Cesarean Section and forceps deliveries are unavailable - transportation to the hospital is necessary if these interventions are required. However, rates of both, as well as episiotomy, are very low.
• The cost of a home birth may be less than a hospital birth, and is often covered by insurance if a CNM is utilized.
• Pregnancy and birth are viewed as normal, natural body functions and not as an illness or disease.

Disadvantages of home birth...

• Client's must assume a greater level of responsibility for their own health: physical, mental and spiritual. This requires active ongoing participation in decision making in all aspects of their care, and a willingness to accept the consequences of those choices and decisions.
• Since the hospital is the currently socially acceptable location for birth, choosing otherwise may result in negative judgments and lack of support.
• Cesarean Sections, forceps deliveries and a nconaialogist arc not available at home, transport is necessary for these and other medical interventions.
• Personal arrangements must be made for postpartum care, such as meals, housekeeping, child care etc.
• The cost of a home birth may not be covered by the client's insurance.
• Analgesics are not readily available with a home birth.

Advantages of a birth center birth...

• The facility is usually only provided for pregnancy and birth events.
• In a birth center, pregnancy and birth is considered a natural and healthy process.
• During pregnancy and birth, women arc encouraged to take charge of their own health care.
• It provides an alternative to parents not comfortable with home birth, yet do not want to give birth in a hospital.
• It has many of the same advantages as home birth, such as greater parental control, non-interventive obstetrical care, freedom to eat and move during labor, and to give birth in any position, and to have any number of family and friends attend the birth.
• The parents are usually encouraged to bring family members to their prenatal visits.
• It offers personalized care at much lower costs than traditional hospitals.
• In most centers, parents can meet the entire staff prior to the birth.
• The rate ofCesarcan and forceps deliveries is less than hospital.
• The discharge time after birth is normally measured in hours, not days.

Disadvantages of a birth center birth...

• Rigid screening criteria often eliminates healthy mothers, i.e.; VBAC, mother over 35.
• The mother is still moved to birth center during labor, and still labors away from the home environment.
• Many centers have rigid rules concerning transporting of the mother to the hospital i.e.; prolonged labor, ruptured membranes. Mother may have to be moved during labor.
• There are usually no pediatricians on staff if the baby has special needs after the birth.
• The mother cannot remain at the birth center for a two or three day rest; discharge is usually within four to 24 hours.

Advantages of a hospital birth...

• Many mothers feel safest laboring a hospital.
• It is the safest environment for the mother at risk for medical complications during labor.
• Emergency personnel and equipment is available if the mother develops complications or needs medical attention.
• It avoids the rush of a last-minute transfer to the hospital (from home or a birth center) if medical problems arise.
• It is the only option available in the event a cesarean section is necessary.
• Immediate pediatric attention is available should the newborn need medical care. Baby does not need to be taken off site to be routinely examined by a pediatrician.
• It has round-the-clock help for the mother and baby (food, diaper changes, medical assistance and information.)

Disadvantages of a hospital birth...

• The parents are not on "home ground" and do not have the same control they would at home.
• Hospitals are primarily associated with illness.
• Hospitals can seem impersonal and intimidating.
• As a large institution, the hospital has rules, policies and red tape; they are rarely altered to accommodate an individual.
• Less privacy is available.
• The father is often less actively involved in a hospital setting, and may fell like an "outsider".
• The mother's birth is usually managed by experts trained in pathology, not normal births.
• The risk of iatrogenic complications and infection to the mother and baby is greater among mothers who deliver in hospitals, than among those who give birth at home or in a birthing center.
• The mother is at a significantly higher risk of having an unnecessary cesarean section.
• Some routine separation of the mother and baby is almost unavoidable.
• Most hospitals do not allow the mother much rest.

I don't believe that C-sections are evil in it of themselves , surgery, for in life sometimes surgeries are necessary. In my own experience, without a C-section my sister would not have been born. She was a breech baby and had that option not have been available my mom would have no daughter and I would have no annoying sister. Although I think C-Sections are good as long as they are used in emergencies, I agree with The World Health Organization (WHO) which states that no region in the world is justified in having a cesarean rate greater than 10 to 15 percent. The C-Section rate in the United States reached 32 percent in 2007, the country’s highest rate ever, health officials are reporting. Facts even seem to show that more women are miserable getting a C-section than not. "The fact that it's primarily women who had kids before and had birth in hospitals before, certainly suggests it's a reaction to their prior birth," said Eugene Declercq, a professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health, and a author of the study. "It certainly suggests it's an experience they don't want to repeat."

SOURCES:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/cdc-home-births-rise-us/story?id=9998349

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1285105/Babies-born-week-early-risk-health-problems.html#ixzz1InxIJj1n


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/health/24birth.html


http://www.houstonnaturalbirth.com/adv_homebirth.shtml

HW 36

Before my interview I decided to ask people I knew who went through birth more than once that way I can get a bigger view on the subject of birth. If I asked a person who had more than one kid I could get answers on the way they felt the first time and how they felt after they had been in a similar experience. One pattern I found was that different feelings were felt depending on whether the parent/s had one or more kids, there was a very different gap in between the two experiences.

 To start off I asked what actions and attitudes by specific people made your pregnancy experience better or challenging? Both the ladies said that they loved the attention they got, like people rubbing their bellies and asking how many months. Some  negatives would be when people say "your having kids again?" or in Samantha’s case since she is only 17 some people shun her for having a kid at this age and say that she is ruining her life. One negative thing that Brooke shared with me was how the doctors imposed on her to get an abortion because they were afraid that the baby would come out with head issues. Although this did pose a problem she decided to have her kid any way and her son who is now 18 is as normal as can be. The next question that I asked was if birth is so painful why have more than one? Brooke said although I was right to assume that it is a painful experience, the pain was nothing to the joy that kids bring(not that they are perfect), and now that some of her kids are grown she’s glad that she had all the kids she did. This was true for Samantha as well, although she doesn’t plan on having another kid any time soon it she is glad she had a kid. Another question that I asked was when they look back at the experience of birth and labor both of the woman were scared prior to the actual birth because they knew it was painful and for Brooke she was scared she could die.

Although pregnancy is mainly about the woman with the baby (partly cause they are the ones going through big change), I still thought that I should interview a male partner because all though they are not the pregnant one they still play a major role (the actual activity in making the baby, support). Something that was interesting that the ladies didn’t mention (and I didn’t want to ask) was there mood swings. Both Bob and Tim told me in detail of mood swings, and I found this interesting because they ladies I interviewed didn’t mention anything about it, but here on the other hand the guys were. I also asked them how they felt at the beginning and end of the process Bob was grateful at the beginning of the pregnancy, because he was able to have kids which I found interesting because most people are worried about either having or not having kids but there are people who are scared that they won’t be able to have any. Towards the end he was cautious for fear that his wife can get hurt during labor. Tim was scared and excited at the fact that he was going to be in charge of another life.

Although the interviews were very helpful in giving me insight to a topic I don’t know much about, a question that it has made me want to investigate would be is birth considered to be "How have the views on birth changed(if there is a change) from the past to the present?"

HW 34

I think that this is going to be an interesting unit because of the diffrent ways it can be viewed. Is it a good thing is it a bad thing, is it all its cracked up to be? Birth (from my family's point of view) is a very good thing, its the beginning of life, it is a happy occation(for the most part), it links families together, its starts families, and it can also be viewed as the beginning of a generation. Although birth has it pros there are also some cons. Of these are financial responsibilites, stress, single mothers. Birth can even be looked down upon, like in some religions and cultures if a baby is born out of wedlock it is shunned uponed. Although I know some things about birth I dont a lot beause I didnt really didnt take time to look into the topic itself. On the other hand I do have a couple of questions I would like to see investigated this unit:

What are the dominent views on birth?(is it a good thing, bad thing)
What should dictate wether or not a person should have kids or not?
If birth really hurts the mom(which I dont doubt it does), why do they then sometimes have more kids?

HW 30-Illness and Dying- Project

Everyone has some sort of definition on what death is, but most of our understanding of this concept is pretty vauge due to the fact that the word death can be interpreted in many ways. When our phones are not working we say they are dead or when somthing goes out of style we say it is dead, but even when we look at the word in a more literal sense it is still vague. obviously if we see a person on the floor unconcios, they are not breathing, their cold and have no pulse we will say that that person is dead. The problem somtimes is that certain senarios arent simmilar to this one. What if there is a person who uncounsios, and they way they recieve there blood and oxygen is artificail ,and yet there is electrical activity in the brain? Do we declare this person to be dead? According to the dominant view to this topic, which is in opposition to my families view, is that death occurs when there is no activity in the brain.

  Death was once defined as the cessation of heartbeat (cardiac arrest) and of breathing, but the development of CPR and prompt defibrillation have rendered that definition inadequate because breathing and heartbeat can sometimes be restarted. This is now called "clinical death". Events which were causally linked to death in the past no longer kill in all circumstances; without a functioning heart or lungs, life can sometimes be sustained with a combination of life support devices, organ transplants and artificial pacemakers."

What I discovered  through research was that today, where a definition of the moment of death is required, doctors and coroners usually turn to "brain death" or "biological death": People are considered dead when the electrical activity in their brain ceases (cf. persistent vegetative state). The possession of brain activities, or ability to resume brain activity, is a necessary condition to legal personhood in the United States. "It appears that once brain death has been determined … no criminal or civil liability will result from disconnecting the life-support devices." (Dority v. Superior Court of San Bernardino County)"

According to the National Geographic Death doesnt accur at one moment, death is a process, thus making it a frontier to understanding the balance between life and death. Science seems to show that when people hearts stop, organs and tissues can stay in a sort of quazi-daed state for hours. One thing that I found very interesting was a technique used to slow down the death process. Using the theraputic hypothermia, by wrapping sombody in a cooling device, and adding an icy saline chillled to just above freezing into the veins, this drops the body temp to 92 degrees-  Due to this chilling process it slows down the death process and blurs the border between life and death. Lenord Hayflick holds the world record for preserving human cells for 46 years, no one knew how many times a cell can devide until they die, but Hayflick descoverd that it took 50 times of cell devision before they died and called it the Hayflick limit.

 

This topic holds signifigance to me because my grandmother is reaching the end of her days. I remeber when our family came together when we had a family reuinion and after we were done partying we gad a serious descussion, what to do if my grandmother became a vegitable. Do we pull the plug because the brain would not be working or do we let her live until the whole sysytem shuts down? As a family we all agreed (rather violently) that a person is not dead until the whole body shuts down, and that pulling the plug would be out of the options.

 

 

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/explorer/3815/Overview#tab-Videos/05707_00

HW 29 Reading and Noting Basic Materials

Paying for Medical Care
"American Medicine is the envy of the world. It has some of the best hospitals. Highly skilled, well-trained, innovative doctors and has made significant advances in in biomedical research, but contradictory it is wasteful, inefficient, increasingly irrational and expensive" (Page 65 Landmark)
We devote about 17% of our gross domestic products to health care, which is far more than any other developed country. Despite such high spending our industrialized democracy doesn't guarantee health insurance to all, and according to the United States Census Bureau, 45 million Americans lack coverage. 59% of the United States workers with employer provided insurance have had to sit and watch that coverage diminish before their eyes even as the cost continuing to rise.


Facing Terminal Illness
 The thought that your story is on its final chapters can be very depressing and overwhelming. We all know we are gonna die, but not everyone "believes" they are going to die, but another way to view this situation in another light, would be from Tuesdays with Morrie: "Its only horrible if you see it that way. Its horrible to watch my body slowly wilt away to nothing. But its also wonderful because of all the time I get to say good-bye...Not everyone is that lucky" Pg 57
 I always find it inspirational how Morrie can make any bad situation seem not as terrible as people make it. I think that there is a certain reward in a death that is not quick. One gets time to reflect on life and not only that but although  your dying your not dead, giving one time  to experience the life they have left to the fullest.


The Process of Dying
 The process of dying effects not only the person who is dying but also the loved ones of the person also as seen in the touching story that Beth shared. The stages of death ,from the beginning to end, do take their toll on people(lying to ones self about their mortality, the stripping of pride). One key lesson that Beth got across was being sad about something one has no control over only leaves a person feeling miserable. The fact that they accepted death (the signing of the DNR) shows that they were moving on. One thing that I find interesting about death is that everyone wants an answer to what happens whether it be asking a monk to asking a preacher.