Preparing for Death with Dr. George Dickinson

Nationally acclaimed death, dying and, bereavement expert and beloved Sociology professor at The College of Charleston ,Dr. George Dickinson may be the only person excited to speak about death to a classroom of twenty college freshman. Dr. Dickinson has a plethora of awards from The College of Charleston and has been recognized state wide as one of the leading death experts in the college circuit.

He is passionate about the one of the two things people are uncomfortable talking about. "People hate talking about sexual relations and dying, I chose the later to be an expert on," Dr. Dickinson exclaimed about halfway through his talk on Monday night. He is definitely an expert in his field doing multiple research projects during this time, one including " the reactions of other dogs while another is being euthanized in a separate room."

He further outlined the three periods of death including the newest period from 1945 to the present day. Biomedical breakthroughs during this time have greatly reduced the death rates and people are living much longer than they used to. A shift in the dying pattern also happened, as medical technology became better people began dying more of chronic illnesses rather than widespread diseases.

A number of new traditions surrounding funeral ceremonies and other ways to be remembered in death have arisen over the years as well.

The first funeral home opened in New York City during the 1890s. They provided the first services in the country which were very limited at the time. During advances, cremation services, as well as, cryonics and natural cemeteries.

Cryonics is when someone who has passed away gets injected with liquid nitrogen and then kept frozen until medical advances become great enough to cure whatever disease they have died from. Two famous people that have been frozen include the father-son duo of Ted Williams and John-Henry Williams.

Natural cemeteries are where people who have died become fertilizer for the soil. Buried in the ground with a tree placed near them, they grow into a forest.

Dr. Dickinson during his talk with the FYE group.

He also talked about the different stages of awareness during hospitalization. These include closed awareness, suspicion awareness, mutual pretense, and open awareness. Closed awareness is when nobody knows anyone is dying and they often pass suddenly. Suspicion awareness is when people know the situation is not looking good and they know it won't be much longer until they pass. Mutual pretense is where everyone involved knows the situation is dire but nobody says anything about it. Open awareness is when all parties involved know the situation. The last situation is common in Hospice care situations.

He also touched on Passive and Active Euthanasia which is where either a family member is taken off of life support or they actively seek a doctors help to kill themselves. The latter is only allowed in five states with the only east coast one being Vermont.

Overall the visit from Dr. Dickinson was very educational and somewhat comical when he ended with the story about a cremation on Folly Beach that happened on a BBQ grill back in the day. We thank Dr. Dickinson for taking time out of his busy schedule to come and talk to us!