Death - a New 5 Part Series on NPR

To the Best of Our Knowledge, a nationally syndicated radio show from Wisconsin Public Radio just started a five part series on Death.  



Death: The Reckoning

Did you hear? There's a death movement going on in America. After decades of sanitized death, with dying, funerals, burial and grief shielded from public view, some people are now working to make death a greater part of life. In this hour, we talk with experts about how to begin these difficult conversations, and how they can transform both the dying and the surviving.



Death: Exit Plan

We live much longer than we used to, thanks to medical advances, but what are the emotional and financial costs of extending the end of life?  In this hour, we talk with physicians and bioethicists about planning for more humane and less prolonged deaths, about how some doctors don't know how to talk with their patients about preparing for death, and about one family's story of working within Oregon's "Death with Dignity" law. Tune if for a discussion of “a good death” and the story of a pioneering psychiatrist who's using hallucinogens to ease the anxiety of terminally-ill cancer patients.



Death: The Last Moment

Resuscitation science is revolutionizing medical care and reviving people who are clinically dead. With proper care, people who suffer heart attacks and lose brain function–even for two hours — can be brought back to life with no brain damage. What has that revealed about the the medical, spiritual and psychological mysteries of death?  We’ll hear conflicting perspectives on the debate over near-death experiences. Do these extraordinary experiences reveal a transcendent reality, or are they simply the biochemical product of a brain that’s shutting down? Tune in for conversations about "conscious death," and how people are reclaiming the final moments of their lives.



Death: The Wake

hat does it mean to grieve well? "Griefwalker" Stephen Jenkinson says that many cultures have “deep and skilled practitioners of grief." In this hour, explore the pain and healing power of grief, and learn about burial and mourning rituals throughout history.  We'll also hear poignant personal stories from people whose jobs bring them into daily contact with death, from a woman who worked for nine years in an inner-city funeral home, to a Ghanaian man who creates “fantasy coffins.”



Death: The Afterlife

Is death what gives life meaning? Looking at the prominence of death and the afterlife in so many religions, you might think so. But for millennia, people have also dreamed about immortality, and now transhumanists are actively trying to extend life by merging our bodies with machines.  In this hour, we explore the philosophical and religious dimensions of mortality and the afterlife. We talk about the art and poetry of remembrance, and now that much of our lives are lived on-line, how do we plan for our digital afterlives?