I’ve visited many hospices over the years so there’s a sense of familiarity about them, but amongst the ‘pattern recognition’ there’s always a unique feature that jumps out, grabbing the attention. No matter how much one believes rationally in the ‘main-streaming’ of palliative care into the whole healthcare system, there is still something about the individuality of hospice… Continue reading
In most parts of the world the proponents of palliative care and of assisted dying do not see eye to eye. Palliative care activists say the problems that lead to assisted dying requests can usually be dealt with in ways that do not hasten death. They promote quality of life and reject the idea of… Continue reading
When this month’s issue of the journal Palliative Medicine dropped through the letter box, I was interested to see that the headline article is a ‘white paper’ from the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) – on euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. I often remark that there is no consensus on how we should die. The… Continue reading
When I first came to work in Dumfries and Galloway, a rural area in the south west of Scotland, I began to explore the local healthcare scene and was told by several people that our region had a high rate of home deaths. Some reported that everyone wishing to die at home was able to… Continue reading
As academics in palliative care in Scotland (David Clark, Marie Fallon and Scott Murray) we are delighted to see the prominent place given to research in the recently-published Scottish Government Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care (2016-21). The Framework and the supporting evidence report not only draw heavily on recent… Continue reading
Published in German 10 years after the death of Cicely Saunders, Der Horizont ist nur die Grenze unserer Sicht is a worthy tribute to her and a significant contribution to the continuing Saunders legacy. Diverse in content, liberal leaning in its theology, Beyond the Horizon has roots deep in tradition and draws on several cultures,… Continue reading
I believe that the Strategic Framework for Action on Palliative and End of Life Care has captured the core issues that face us in improving care in Scotland for people with life limiting illness and those close to them. The Scottish Government’s document avoids the pitfalls of ‘top-down’ and ‘checklist’ directives, but provides a clear vision and… Continue reading
It is a rare experience in an academic career to carry out a project with a simple research question, to publish the findings and then to find there is unprecedented interest from many quarters. That was how things worked out with our study of the imminence of death among a national cohort of hospital inpatients,… Continue reading
