In the summer of 2018, Dr Marian Krawczyk and I co-authored an article about how the various western cultural ‘scripts’ which give meaning to dying might be influenced when assisted dying is made lawful and the very end stages of dying becomes, in essence, an ‘optional’ part of the lifecourse. Our thinking was very much… Continue reading →
A new approach to suffering in life-limiting illness: Total pain, the brain-gut axis, and the human microbiome. Dr Marian Krawczyk talks about her new Carnegie Research Incentive Grant: This grant enables her to conduct a targeted review of literature across social, medical, and biological research to develop an innovative transdisciplinary theory that considers the connection… Continue reading →
We don’t often post pieces of this kind on our blog, but I was so struck by the simplicity of this tribute when I read it, that I asked its writer if we could post it here. Dr Suresh Kumar, a good friend to our group and active collaborator, is well known for his work… Continue reading →
Members of the University of Glasgow End of Life Studies Group are collaborating with the ATLANTES Global Observatory of Palliative Care, University of Navarra and the Worldwide Hospice and Palliative Care Alliance, to conduct a third study of the state of palliative care development around the world. Based on data from 2017, the new ‘world… Continue reading →
I spent a productive week at Dumfries this May working with the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group on our project funded by the Scottish Funding Council on “Assessing the Quality and Outcomes in a Community Form of Palliative Care Delivery in Kerala, India”. In this post, I reflect on the genesis of this project,… Continue reading →
We are all aware of the headlines about the impact of government austerity measures on communities up and down the UK. But what impact has austerity had on people’s experiences of dying and, specifically, their ability to die in their own home? What is it like to be facing death in materially constrained circumstances in… Continue reading →
Authors: Julie Lang, Dr Sheri Mila Gerson, Dr Sarah Pickstock (Consultant, Palliative Medicine, NHS Dumfries and Galloway) Steven Eastwood’s powerful documentary film Island was screened at Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary as a part of Dying Matters Week. This was a collaborative event between the academic community of the End-of-Life studies Group and the clinical staff… Continue reading →
Death is not monolithic. It is better to think about deaths and dyings. So said a participant about what she had learnt from our half day symposium on reading and writing death, in May 2019, held at the St Mungo Museum for Religious Life and Art in Glasgow . Not monolithic indeed. Our plan for… Continue reading →
