Pain is a far-reaching phenomenon, present in all of our lives, whether it be the daily pain of hunger, the pain of loss, of bereavement, or following trauma, a heart attack or long-term disease, even terminal cancer. Untreated pain is a great burden – to individuals who suffer emotionally and are predisposed to further complications… Continue reading
75% of the world’s population have no – or inadequate – access to controlled medicines for pain relief. This means that, for many people, a diagnosis of a serious illness such as cancer brings not only a traumatic confrontation with mortality, but also the fear – and reality – of excruciating pain. Pain serves the evolutionary… 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
What challenges are there in exhibiting art which has used to help terminally ill patients and their relatives? Nadia Collette, art therapist and curator of Inner Light, talks about the project which resulted in an exhibition in Barcelona in the first half of 2016. This interview was a French-English collaboration, and the blog begins with a translation, followed by… Continue reading
The ninth of May was a gorgeous spring evening, ‘exam weather’ as we call it in Scotland, and who could have expected over fifty people would come to a café to talk about death? Organised to mark the start of Death Awareness Week 2016, our death café at Designs Gallery and Cafe was hosted by local Castle Douglas… Continue reading
Melanie Reid’s article appeared in The Times Magazine on Saturday 19 March 2016, and is republished here with the kind permission of the author. Spinal column: matters of life and death ‘I’m very happy to talk about death. I’ve learnt it isn’t remotely the worst thing that can happen’ An icy night in early March,… Continue reading
Marie Curie Scotland and the University of Glasgow co-hosted a seminar End of life care in Scottish hospitals: opportunities for wider engagement. Full coverage of the event is now available. The seminar provided a platform for discussion about end of life care in Scotland, focusing on the healthcare and policy implications of research into the imminence… 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
