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Palliative care may help patients find what gave their life meaning – by Attilio Stajano

Published on: Author: David Clark 5 Comments

People in the terminal phase of an illness are cumbersome, annoying, difficult and useless. Cumbersome with their technological bed, commode, armchair, walking frame, crutches, intravenous drips, catheters and drainage bag: there is no room for them at home. Annoying, with their coughing, wheezing, bad smells, bedsores, insomnia, continuous calls and countless needs. Difficult to manage… Continue reading →

Just basic care? by Derek Doyle

Published on: Author: David Clark Leave a comment

In a previous post on this blog – “Palliative Care Definitions & Discoveries” I told of what seemed like a discovery to some of us generously described as “pioneers.” We had suddenly realised that palliative care was no more, no less than good clinical care whatever the pathology of the illness or the gender, colour,… Continue reading →

Bodies in metal: sustainable remains, technology and bodily disposal – by Ruth McManus

Published on: Author: David Clark 1 Comment

I like small scale but clever gadgets. Personal favorites are a 1950s wall hung hand coffee grinder and a steam driven stove top expresso pot. They are human scale technologies. While I gain much from the daily exertion they require, the longer I use them, the more I like to think I am paying my… Continue reading →

Definitions and Discoveries – by Derek Doyle

Published on: Author: David Clark Leave a comment

I am old enough to be called “one of the pioneers of palliative care” but serious amnesia has not yet set in (so far as I remember)! I can recall much from those pioneering days, including the hours spent trying to devise comprehensive definitions so that, as we told each other “people will come to… Continue reading →

To Absent Friends, a people’s festival of storytelling and remembrance – by Mark Hazelwood

Published on: Author: guwebteam Leave a comment

Four months ago our organisation, the Scottish Partnership for Palliative Care (SPPC) created a space on the web where anyone could post a brief message of remembrance about dead loved ones who remain important to them.  Little by little, day by day, non-virally, that space has grown into a powerful reminder of the diversity and… Continue reading →

The Revival of Death: two decades on – by Tony Walter

Published on: Author: guwebteam 4 Comments

I have been on the phone for the past hour to a journalist writing an article on Death Cafés and the movement to get people talking about death. Is this, she asked, because death in our society is repressed? Is there a taboo against talking about it? “No,” I answered, “if we need to talk… Continue reading →

Understanding in our global village: looking beyond myopia – by Richard Powell

Published on: Author: guwebteam 1 Comment

Hailing from a Dylan Thomas-like diminutive, unassuming, “ugly, lovely” former coal mining village in South Wales, UK –  whose inhabitants routinely greet friends and strangers alike with a warm, embracing “Morning!” couched in a melodious Welsh lilt – I could be more readily forgiven for small-town parochialism than any meaningful participation in a global dialogue.… Continue reading →

Death on the Fringe by Rob Peacock

Published on: Author: guwebteam 1 Comment

This summer the Scottish campaign, Good Life, Good Death, Good Grief, which works to make Scotland a place where there is more openness about death, dying and bereavement, has partnered with the world renowened Edinburgh Fringe Festival to launch its own programe of shows  – Death on the Fringe. What better place to encourage debate… Continue reading →