[bregma]

I think the thing that makes this death stand out from the usual run-of-the-mill fatal accident was the fact that the victim was normal and healthy when the accident occurred but could cognizantly look forward to his inevitable death over the next month and there was nothing --absolutely nothing -- that could be done to avoid it. All he could do was get his affairs in order and then sit and wait through the oncoming suffering.

It's not the accidental death, it's the prolonged psychological horror that makes it so tragic.

[tetrep]

Same with the Chernobyl disaster. There was a breif moment in time when the engineers could have safely shut the reactor down, but after that moment passed, it became a "choose you own doom adventure" and the rest of the story is more or less about how people coped with that largely unknown fact.

[6D794163636F756]

I've had chemo, and this was one of the worst aspects. I could feel myself starving and dying through the process. Had to discuss with family what to do when I died and saw the pain that put on them. I can say with absolute certainty that I don't fear death, I fear dying. If I were exposed to a lethal dose of radiation, the anticipation of the pain and death would make me want to kill myself. I don't have words to describe the psychological effect waiting for a seemingly inevitable death has. I can't imagine how much worse that is without the sliver of hope I had.