The Medicalization of Death and How to Reclaim a Better Way to Die

Scott Adams, who recently passed from an aggressive, rapidly progressing prostate cancer, openly shared his final journey with a wide audience, offering valuable insights for others facing the dying experience Over centuries, the medical industry has increasingly monopolized death and dying, fostering a cultural view that treats death as something to fear, deny, and exclude from life — rather than a natural companion to accept This distortion makes dying far more arduous in our society, fueling an escalating medicalization of death in which expensive, often futile interventions are imposed on patients — frequently against their deepest values and wishes In contrast to the materialist scientific view that consciousness emerges solely from brain activity, compelling evidence indicates consciousness can persist independently of the brain and, in some cases, even transfer between individuals or contexts (e.g., via organ transplants or near-death accounts) Recognizing the spiritual dimensions of dying and how they intersect with modern medical discoveries. Many ancient and enduring traditions regard this moment as one of the most significant in human life