Suffering and pain present both practical and theoretical problems. This might be surprising. Having long faced the problem of pain, we might have expected it, by now, to be solved. Pain treatment, however, remains woefully inadequate. Chronic pain is not only often incurable and difficult to manage, it is proliferating. Pain treatment and management are… Continue reading
As the trends of population growth and aging further the need to expand end of life care globally, it is important to understand that conceptions of appropriate end of life care vary cross-culturally. This global dimension is at the forefront of The End of Life Studies Group’s research. On the 15th of May, the Group… Continue reading
Cicely Saunders once stated that ‘suffering is only intolerable when nobody cares’. Yet suffering is a broad concept with many aspects. Members from the Glasgow End of Life Studies Group recently attended a two-day philosophy conference entitled ‘Suffering and Autonomy at the End of Life’. Speakers came from a range of academic disciplines – including… Continue reading
In 1961 Cicely Saunders, in a short article written for a general audience, observed: ‘A society which shuns the dying must have an incomplete philosophy’ [1]. The remark is loaded with import. In her observation, ‘the dying’, seem to constitute a known social category. Not only neglected, they are persistently avoided, ignored, or rejected through… Continue reading
In recent times I have been struck by the widespread use of the term ‘compassion’. It is being colonized by many groups, organisations and discourses – sometimes with rather opposing purposes. Widely used by the supporters of palliative care, it has also been adopted by those that promote assisted dying. It is found in the… Continue reading
Around the world there is a growing interest in the ways in which dying people are cared for, but there is little or no agreement on what ‘good death’ really means. With such fundamentals left unresolved, should we address the global challenge of end of life care around the world in a unified way, or… Continue reading
We invited Orkney International Science Festival visitors to take part in a series of discussions about spirituality, ethics and compassionate communities at the end of life in September 2016. The festival’s director Howie Firth describes the annual event as, “something for the whole community to enjoy, something fresh and creative, with surprises and excitement and sheer… Continue reading
Approaching the podium at a recent global health colloquium, I spotted something which I hadn’t seen before: a tiny set of traffic lights designed to cue the speakers and help with their timing. As I stepped up it wasn’t the sight of this innovative time-keeping device but an awareness of the delegates, the global experts on palliative care… Continue reading
