Moritz Drescher

“So hat sich - sowohl im Bereich der religiösen Darstellungen als auch in dem der naturwüchsigen Verhaltensweisen - der Übergang von einem Tod als Bewußtsein und Verdichtung des Lebens zu einem Tod als Bewußtsein und verzweifelter Liebe zu diesem Leben vollzogen.”
― Philippe Ariès, Lhommme Devant La Mort: I. Le Temps Des Gisants

“The 1930s brought what is known as the “medicalization” of death. The rise of the hospital removed from view all the gruesome sights, smells, and sounds of death. Whereas before a religious leader might preside over a dying person and guide the family in grief, now it was doctors who attended to a patient’s final moments. Medicine addressed life-and-death issues, not appeals to heaven. The dying process became hygienic and heavily regulated in the hospital. Medical professionals deemed unfit for public consumption what death historian Philippe Ariès called the “nauseating spectacle” of mortality. It became taboo to “come into a room that smells of urine, sweat, and gangrene, and where the sheets are soiled.” The hospital was a place where the dying could undergo the indignities of death without offending the sensibilities of the living.”
― Caitlin Doughty, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory