Mortality and Society

Mortality and Society
Response to Death is the mandate of each and every healthy society; Kastenbaum refers to this cycle as the “death system.” Due to the inevitability of death, people have developed policies that govern the whole process involved with death, from the determination of death, organ transplant and autopsies. For the purpose of order and accountability societies have agreed on procedures and regulations to be followed when executing of certain duties or tasks. These public interests are all interrelated in such a way that if new technology is introduced, then policies are formulated correspondingly to cover new loopholes. The policies that exist are subject to change depending on the period and society in which they are to be implemented. The main concerns are; warning in case of potential death, prevention of death through emergency medical care, caring of the dying and disposing of the dead.
Disasters are the major causes of mass death in societies, the risk of occurrence of such disasters in the modern day has increased exponentially. This is because of the high rate of industrialization and the increased settlement of people in high-risk areas like the coastline which exposes them to tornados and tsunamis. In light of this, every person in the society has a stake in trying to prevent these disasters, and with the unified effort, the chances of death are decreased. This is done by taking precautionary measures beforehand and by providing adequate warnings during a case of imminent disaster.

When a disaster is unavoidable the people assist in rescuing the survivors and providing them with basic needs like shelter and food; these acts bring societies together in handling its matters. This is illustrated in the case of Hurricane Katrina that saw the unity and helps portrayed by the citizens themselves in helping the victims.
Causes of death in societies today are not only because of natural calamities but also by the hand of others individuals, and thus the people have given provisions for such cases. The judicial system was introduced to deal with the determination of the cause of death and to categorize them if declared as murder. The main subdivisions being criminal and noncriminal, the two then have they subclasses that may include; homicide of various degree, manslaughter among others. The judicial system is therefore tasked with investigating a case then proving that and individual is guilty, giving them the mandate to sentence them to punishment. Defining death is the first role and concluded with sentencing where grievous murderers serve capital punishment.
Organ transplant and organ donation are technological and medical innovations that have been subject to debate in societies today. This innovation has brought hope to those patients that are hopelessly ill because of degradation of some of their essential body organs. Brain death was the solutions to the questions of when was the organ of the donor removed after his or her death. This was because some organs were sensitive and needed to be alive during transplant, for examples organs like the heart need to beating for it to be successfully transplanted. Various policies have been set to govern the donation and transplanting of organs, for example; the enacting of gift act where when a person dies some of his organs are donated to the needy people. The banning of selling or buying of body organs has been instrumental in regulating organ donation and transplant. The ethics of these medical practices have also been implemented to ensure accountability in the case of autopsies, notification of death and recognition of death using the death certificate.