Older adulthood is considered to be the last phase of life in the human
lifespan. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [1], the average
age of death in the United States is 78 years. It is a well-known part of the human
experience that death most commonly occurs during older adulthood and is more
widely accepted by society than when death occurs in a child or young adult. Old age is
characterized by the developmental stage of life known as integrity versus despair [2].
In this last developmental stage of life, an individual is left challenged to accept and
find meaning in the life that he/she has lived.
Keywords: Death, Death and society, Dying, End of life, Family issues, Grieving,
Hospice, Palliative care, Stages of development.
