Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, a psychiatrist who revolutionized the way the world looks at terminally ill patients with her book “On Death and Dying” and later as a pioneer for hospice care, has died. She was 78.

Published in 1969, “On Death and Dying” focused on the needs of the dying and offered her theory that they go through five stages of grief — denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=3&u=/ap/obit_kubler_ross

I got a lot out of Kubler-Ross’ first book. In particular, I was inspired to learn that you could spin an entire book (and later a career) out of an idea that can be entirely contained in the second paragraph of your obituary. No disrespect intended to the deceased, but the book is essentially exactly what you imagine it would be reading the sentence above.

I was a little unsettled to learn after reading the book that Kubler-Ross had written a series of books all on the same topic. Death and Dying for the AIDS Patient. Death and Dying for the Burn Victim. Death and Dying for the Chicken Soup Lover’s Soul. Etc. I mean, everybody’s gotta make a buck, Doc, but don’t you have one book in you about birthday clowns? Even Jimmy Carter had a novel in him.