Death Education: Chinese doctor calls for death education for youth

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One medical doctor, who is also a legislator in China, has been making calls to educate young Chinese about death. CGTN reporter Wu Guoxiu visited this doctor, and also heard from someone who was dying.

Struggling to breathe while clinging to life. In the ICU at Peking University's Shougang Hospital, many patients wear tubes connected to life support machines. But the dean of the hospital says, some choose not to go through this.

GU JIN, DEAN PEKING UNIVERSITY SHOUGANG HOSPITAL "Some cancer patients prefer to die at the last stage of their sickness. Even when we told their relatives that they might not need such painful treatment, over 90 percent refused, even if they can't be saved."

A cancer surgeon himself, Gu says when he knows a patient can't be cured, he has to first tell relatives, most of whom don't want to relay the news to their dying loved ones. Some of his patients, however, are able to choose to leave peacefully at the hospice center.

SHI ZHITONG 75-YEAR-OLD CANCER PATIENT "Even if I had further wishes, I couldn't achieve them. I told them not to over treat me to add to my pain. At the last stage, I just to want to leave peacefully, and not too painfully."

The Hospice center doesn't aim to cure the disease, but to help patients suffer less before dying.

SUN WENXI, HEAD-NURSE HOSPICE CENTER, SHOUGANG HOSPITAL "We help them with their pain, like when they struggle to breathe or have to vomit. We also need to care about the patients and their families' mental conditions."

WU GUOXIU BEIJING "Here beside me is a wish tree. Each tiny bottle carries the wish of a patient, which will be given to their family after passing away. At this hospice center, one patient dies every three days. But most say, they don't regret living here at the last stage of life."

Gu Jin says many people need to be educated about respecting others' choices for death of dignity since they are young. This March, while attending annual political meetings as a legislator, he suggested young people visit the hospice center, particularly addressing teenagers' suicide cases.

GU JIN, DEAN PEKING UNIVERSITY SHOUGANG HOSPITAL "Death education is rather an education about respecting life. You should tell them how life comes, how to live it and when to give it up. You should also tell them the ending of life is a natural course like how everyone has to get off a train."

Some say, parents are like a curtain between us and death. Others say, old people return to childhood in a way, as life is like a circle.

"How old are you?"

"I'm 25."

Wu Guoxiu, CGTN, Beijing.