My doctoral study began with a question: what if choosing when to die became as commonplace – and as accessible – as a trip to the corner shop? As part of my practice-based doctoral research at the University of Falmouth’s School of Design, I have been investigating how design can ignite conversations around topics we… Continue reading
“Death is terrifying”, writes the author Susan Cheever, “…because it is so ordinary. It happens all the time”. Continue reading
We are all aware of the headlines about the impact of government austerity measures on communities up and down the UK. But what impact has austerity had on people’s experiences of dying and, specifically, their ability to die in their own home? What is it like to be facing death in materially constrained circumstances in… 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
I drive past a statue of Jean Armour, the wife of the Scottish poet Robert Burns, every morning on the way to work. When my 4 year old daughter, travelling with me, asked me about the statue, I told her it was to celebrate the life of someone who had died; that the woman must… Continue reading
Individuals’ aesthetic preferences for a good death are as significant as physical suffering in decisions to opt for an assisted suicide. This is the main finding from my anthropological study, now available as an open access article Assisted Suicide as a Remedy for Suffering? The End-of-Life Preferences of British “Suicide Tourists” in the journal Medical Anthropology.… Continue reading
What does it mean to have a good death? The best way of answering this question takes us via a philosophical theory of the good life. Central to living a good life is the value of autonomy: deciding for yourself what is valuable and living your life in accordance with that decision. Autonomy is an… Continue reading
