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
In the context of armed conflict, humanitarianism frequently functions as palliation. It is a powerful tool which must be used cautiously, with a close eye on political agendas, asserts Dr Kurt Mills of the Glasgow Human Rights Network in his new book. Palliation as a concept is most often used in the context of end… Continue reading
José Miguel Carrasco (Sociologist and PhD in Public Health), is a Spanish researcher from ATLANTES research programme (University of Navarra, Spain). He visited us recently at the University of Glasgow’s campus in Dumfries, Scotland with the aim of sharing experiences and knowledge, and working together on issues which relate to both our research groups. In… Continue reading
Dr Thomas J Lynch of Johns Hopkins University asks whether at the ‘end’ there is any ‘point’? I left the North-West of England for the Eastern Seaboard of the United States of America almost 18 months ago to take a position at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Since my arrival in the USA, I have… Continue reading
Recent weeks have been exciting ones for the international palliative care community. The 14th World Congress of the European Association of Palliative Care was held in Copenhagen from 8 – 10 May 2015 and the 4th International Public Health and Palliative Care Conference took place in Bristol from 11th – 16th May 2015. We at… Continue reading
What puts the ‘public’ in public health palliative care? A flurry of men and women with name badges and conference bags over their shoulders could be seen in the corridor of the Bristol Marriot Hotel at the start of the 4th International Public Health and Palliative Care Conference. I found myself an empty seat in… Continue reading
Studying end of life care in the global context poses particular challenges due to the diversity of cultural meanings and expectations surrounding death and dying in different global settings. With culturally specific ideas of the ‘good death’ and ‘bad death’, ‘end of life’ becomes a fascinating topic for me as an anthropologist. In a palliative… Continue reading
Imagine a project which seeks to take the best attributes of hospice care and inculcate them into the fabric of the acute hospital. Not just one hospital, but all hospitals in a whole country. Consider a project that is about a joined up approach to clinical care when death is near, that takes seriously the… Continue reading
