As a medical student I was well and truly “Kubler-Rossed,” becoming a follower of the theory of five stages of grief outlined in the 1969 book On Death and Dying . It was only some time later that I realised we were at the receiving end of an evangelical zeitgeist wherein conviction seemed to over-rule calmer reflection. Instead of being viewed as an important practical and reflective addition to our ways of considering reactions to serious illness and death, disciples of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, in their enthusiasm, often allowed the concept to assume the characteristics of dogma. Indeed in 1985 Kubler-Ross expressed regret for having referred to them as stages, …