’A good death’ in the daily press

Over the last few decades, there has been a change in the way in which we relate to death. Newspaper articles provide an insight into what we consider a 'good' or 'dignified' death. According to research carried out by Radboud university medical center and Radboud University, the articles have revealed that, in the case of the elderly, a good death is primarily associated with having lived a full life and a self-chosen end of life. Now that people are living much longer and we are seeing social trends like the declining role of religion, what are people actually talking about when they refer to a good death? This is exactly what researchers Els van Wijngaarden (Radboud university medical center) and José Sanders (Radboud University) wanted to find out. They analysed 173 articles that had appeared between 2010 and 2020 in the Dutch newspapers Het Algemeen Dagblad , De Telegraaf , De Volkskrant , NRC Handelsblad and Trouw . " Newspapers report on public debate, and reflect on it and then re-energise the debate ," says Sanders. "The articles provided an impression of how we deal with death, and how we'd consequently like to deal with it." - The ways in which death is discussed .