[Professional management of death--sociocultural aspects].

During recent decades, treatment of death has been removed from the family and placed in the hands of experts and specialized institutions. More and more people die outside their homes. Our statistical analysis shows that in Switzerland between 1969 and 1986 the old people's home has replaced the private home. However the proportion of people dying in the hospital (55%) has not changed. Proceeding from these facts, we conducted a sociological...