Box 1.

Illich's critique of the medicalisation of dying¹

• A loss of the capacity to accept death and suffering as meaningful aspects of life

• A sense of being in a state of “total war” against death at all stages of the life cycle

• A crippling of personal and family care, and a devaluing of traditional rituals surrounding dying and death

• A form of social control in which a rejection of “patienthood” by dying or bereaved people is labelled as a form of deviance