The Rights and Wrongs of Witnessing Dying in a Semipublic Space

Abstract

This article weighs up the rights and wrongs of witnessing and reporting on the dying of a stranger. As a sociologist interested in death and dying, I have researched hospital end-of-life care. While a patient in the hospital, I was privy to the dying of another patient, whom I could see from my bed. Family members and medical staff discussed the woman's situation within my hearing. The family disagreed with each other about how best to proceed. A palliative care referral was discussed but not acted upon. Inevitably, the woman died, in her semipublic hospital bed. As a researcher, I wish to explore this experience. As a human being, I feel for the woman who died and her family. The paper focuses on the ethics of writing about the dying of my fellow patient, concluding it would be unethical to share any details that would make the people involved recognizable.