Dying as failure.
With the changes over the past forty years in the way people die and in the ways they are cared for when ill, the attitudes toward death have changed. When death seemed a metaphysical event, it commanded a kind of respect. Today, with the process of dying protracted--sometimes for years--it seems an evidence of failure.
D001293:Attitude to Death; D006801:Humans; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000523:psychology*