Zwischen Todesverdrängung und -integration. Ambivalenzen moderner Medizin

Definition of the problem It is a very common conviction that modern societies are suppressing death. But this belief is hard to verify sociologically, and it also seems to be impossible to disprove it. (A) Modernity is certainly aware of death. Because of its functional differentiation, it works with various images of death. Its high standard of individualization, on the other hand, gives death a new meaning: death is looked upon as the irreversible loss of a unique person worth in his own right. (B) Because many of modernity’s images of death ignore individual death, it is also seen as suppressing death. Arguments A closer look at modern medicine helps to make sense of these ambiguities: (A) Because medicine addresses death primarily in an empirical way, it excludes the unique person and his own death. This is also true for pain, which is the reason why modern medicine tends to ignore both death and pain. (B) At the same time, modern medicine is more than just science since it is, of course, also interested in understanding the individual patient’s case. Conclusions These two tendencies can contradict, but they can also complement each other. Whereas the exclusive focus on natural sciences does not do justice to either the individual death or to pain, the focus on the individual case sheds light on the complexity of this phenomenon. It also allows the respective paradigm of modern medicine to be criticized. Especially palliative medicine tries to find a new balance between these two logics of medical action. It remains to be seen whether it will succeed.