KÜBLER-ROSS, Elisabeth

Born 8 July 1926, Zurich, Switzerland

Also writes under: E. Kübler-Ross, Elisabeth K. Ross

Daughter of Ernst and Emma Williger Kübler; married Emanual R.Ross, 1958 (divorced); children: two

Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, one of a set of tiny triplets, lived in Europe until after receiving her M.D. from the University of Zurich in 1957. She came to the U.S. in 1958 as an intern at Community Hospital in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York. She spent the next three years in residency in psychiatry at Manhattan State Hospital, Montefiore Hospital, and Colorado General Hospital. She has taught at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and at the University of Chicago.

Kübler-Ross travels throughout the world, giving hundreds of lectures, seminars, and workshops on death and dying. She has served on the advisory boards of more than 20 hospices and institutes on grief and dying and has received honorary degrees from 17 colleges and universities as well as numerous other awards. In 1976 Kübler-Ross founded Shanti Nilaya, a nonprofit organization "dedicated to the promotion of physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual health." She served as president of the board of directors. She married another physician and they had two children before divorcing. Kübler-Ross holds both U.S. and Swiss citizenship.

Although she does not administer medication or perform surgery, few people have Kübler-Ross' power to heal. On Death and Dying (1969, reprinted numerous times, including 1991, 1997), her groundbreaking book, and her subsequent lectures, writings, and workshops, have helped, as Anne Hudson Jones noted, to revolutionize "the way Americans think about death and dying, and consequently, about living as well." In On Death and Dying, Kübler-Ross reports on her work with terminally ill patients at the University of Chicago, where for several years she taught an interdisciplinary seminar on death and dying. She begins by outlining the changes occurring in the last few decades in the treatment of the dying. Instead of dying among family and friends, most people now die in impersonal institutional settings surrounded by medical personnel who are trained to prolong life but who do not know how to manage dying patients humanely. Kübler-Ross has identified five stages dying patients go through: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Not all patients go through all stages, but those who reach acceptance die more peacefully, according to Kübler-Ross. The book includes some interviews with patients as well as a chapter assessing the reactions of the medical staff and students to her seminar.

In Questions and Answers on Death and Dying (1974, reprinted with two other titles, 1992), Kübler-Ross attempts to answer the questions most frequently asked of her by audiences. Although she reviews the material in her earlier work, there is useful new information about suicide and terminal illness, euthanasia, caring for the dying at home, the family's problems, funerals, problems of the medical staff, and beliefs in life after death.

Death: The Final Stage of Growth (1975), an anthology edited by Kübler-Ross, includes essays, poems, and letters, many of them written especially for this collection by former patients, colleagues, and her students. Selections address the psychological difficulties of patients dying in institutions, tell how other cultures handle death, and insist that death can be the final stage of personal growth. Of special interest is an autobiographical essay by Kübler-Ross, relating her early experiences with death, both in her community and in Europe during World War II, which she believes led her to her work with death and dying.

To Live Until We Say Goodbye (1978) is a volume of photographs by Mal Warshaw with text by Kübler-Ross. The first part of the book has photographs and interviews with three dying patients. The second part presents alternative settings for care of the dying—hospices, homes for the dying, and personal homes of the dying. The photographs are haunting; the text is informative. In this volume, Kübler-Ross says more about the death of children than she does in any of her other works. The final chapter tells of her teachings about life, death, and transition at Shanti Nilaya (Sanskrit for "home of peace"). In Working It Through: An Elizabeth Kubler-Ross Workshop on Life, Death and Transition (1981, 1987, 1997), her second collaboration with photographer Mal Warshaw, she briefly recounts the history behind Shanti Nilaya, and then describes the workshops, integrating photographs and letters from former participants.

In AIDS: The Ultimate Challenge (1987, 1997) Kübler-Ross recounts her ongoing efforts to help AIDS patients accept their condition with strength and serenity. She believes AIDS presents "the ultimate challenge" because the stigma attached to the disease has been as devastating as the disease itself. In one fascinating section, Kübler-Ross reprints a transcript of a town meeting held to discuss the founding of a hospice for babies with AIDS; she encounters hostile resistance from town members, whose concerns and prejudices reflect the fear and uncertainty shared by many across the country. Contrasting society's support for victims of "acceptable" illnesses such as cancer to the isolation and condemnation faced by AIDS sufferers, Kübler-Ross addresses her book to those who would still deny or ignore the tragedy of AIDS and withhold compassion from its sufferers.

Kübler-Ross' work has helped effect a much needed revolution in the way Americans think about death and dying and, consequently, about living as well. She has helped change medical education to include teaching about death and dying, and she is cited as an authority by almost everyone doing work in the field. She has received many honorary degrees, from Albany Medical College, Smith College, the University of Notre Dame, Hamline University, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

At the turn of the century, Kübler-Ross faced her own declining health, and the need to practice what she had so long, and so eloquently preached. In 1999, after six strokes, she spoke candidly to the media about her own imminent demise. She said she was already in the fifth stage (acceptance), and has been for nearly five years. Talking to ABC News in August, Kübler-Ross said, "That I could die tonight would be a good death. Not 10 years or even two years from now—that would be lousy. The sooner the better." Yet some wonder if Kübler-Ross is simply giving up, or depressed. For an independent woman, with an over-active, workaholic life, to be confined to a chair for better part of every day, has indeed been difficult. Her friend and holistic doctor, Gladys McGarey, told ABC News, "The strokes have been really devastating for her… another person, who was less in charge, might not be as deeply affected." For her part, Kübler-Ross states she is not truly living, just "existing." One hopes Kübler-Ross will achieve the peaceful passing she has advocated, the kind of death she helped many accept through her writings and seminars.