Table 4.
Clergy Perspectives on the Characteristics of a Middle Deatha
| A Middle Death: A Mixed Event |
|---|
| And there are some ‘middle deaths.’ There was a person in the church and it took her a year and a half to die of cancer. And it was kind of a mixed event. It was an interesting combination of experiences there. So that was a mixed death. (MB107) |
| It's subjective. … We as humans often see based upon what our own experience is or what we read that experience should be, in the Bible, but that is not necessarily what that person's experience is. (MJB1030FG-I) |
| We as clergy are called to minister to diverse populations and they are all in our congregations: We might have the gangster, and a good death to him or her is going out in a blaze of glory shooting up somebody. How would you interpret that to your congregation and to that family because most people will agree that it is a poor death, but that person was prepared everyday to go out in that way. And that might be called a good death to him or her in that community to which they exist in. We got guys that have died tragically and they saw it as good. But it is how we as clergy interpret or reinterpret that for the community. (MJB1030FG-K) |
| It's subjective. And that is subjective to anyone except that individual who is judging it based upon their own experience. (MJB1030FG-I) |
| So I think a good death for me would be in the eyes of the patient and not so much in my eyes. (RT7292014) |
a
Participant identifiers that include “FG” indicate that the quote is from a focus group; the letter afterwards indicates the specific speaker.