Research Day
DEATH REGISTERS: HOW HOSPICE PROFESSIONALS USE FUTURE-ORIENTED LANGUAGE TO MANAGE THE EXPECTATIONS OF PATIENTS' FAMILIES
Document Type
Abstract
Date
2021
Abstract
Hospice is a venue organized to provide a "good death" for patients and family. Since many hospice patients are bedridden and often incoherent or unconscious, much of this venue's interactions take place between hospice professionals and patients' families. The families of patients desire definitive prognoses, as knowing what to expect can help them to act. In light of this need, how then do hospice professionals use language to achieve and maintain buy-in from patients' families? Drawing on eight months of observation in Hospice House Interdisciplinary Team (IDT) meetings, we analyze the verbal interactions between hospice professionals and families of patients, focusing in particular on registers of prognosis, to better understand how hospice professionals use language to manage family expectations. In order to accomplish these professional goals, hospice professionals use future grammars, primarily comprising predictive and subjunctive verbs. Imperative verbs are rarely used. Paying attention to the uses of these linguistic registers helps us further understand some key qualities of the good death, and in general, may offer a richer understanding of death itself.