The good death - meeting the emotional and spiritual needs of the dying person and the survivors

From The Sun, April, 2014, interview with Katy Butler, "The Long Goodbye" by Sam Mowe:

In her 1969 book On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross describes five stages of grief. The first is denial: someone who receives a terminal diagnosis will often insist that he or she is not going to die. But by the final stage, acceptance, the person makes peace with the fact that death is approaching. Today many people remain stuck in denial, hoping for a cure right up until the end. As a result, many end-of-life tasks, such as giving your children your blessing, don’t get done. It’s important to leave your survivors with a sense that you love them and believe in them, and that they should go out and explore their own path. But if you’re still thinking you’re going to “beat this thing,” you’re unlikely to have that conversation. The emotional duties get neglected as a result of how excellent the medical technology is.

Editor's note:

In our contemporary world we get hyper focused on the person's physical body and ignore his/her spirit. We need to shift the emphasis for the mental health of all concerned.

Is there such a thing as a "good death"? I think there is. It is a death in which the emotional and spiritual needs of the dying person are met along with the emotional and spiritual needs of the survivors. The question is how do we best meet these needs?