Category: End of Life
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Plato’s and Bacon’s views on the role of medical care for chronic diseases
(Abstracted from the essay on Francis Bacon by Lord Macaulay) “To Plato, the science of medicine appeared to be of very disputable advantages. He did not indeed object to quick cures for acute disorders, or for injuries produced by accidents. But the art which resists the slow sap of a chronic disease had no share…
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Fear of being buried alive
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Cremation eliminates all danger of being buried alive.”– “Short reasons for cremation,” an Australian pamphlet, c. 1900 It has been said that one of our most common fears is being buried alive.1 Someone is mistakenly thought dead, placed in a coffin, and buried. We will not discuss other forms of alive burials,…
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The sophia and phronesis of modern medicine
Meaghan O’Connor Durham, North Carolina, United States The Doctor. Luke Fildes, 1891. Tate Gallery, London. Via Wikimedia. My first clinical experience was working as a hospice aide my sophomore year of college. During that experience I watched my first patient suffer—physically and spiritually—and eventually die. Not bound by the time constraints of more formal…
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Reclamation
Natalie Perlov Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States “Tell them you love them.” Photo by Neil Moralee on Flickr. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Like many people, my first experience with death was losing a grandparent. I remember my parents organizing my late grandfather’s affairs, noting our religious practice of having as few people as possible touch the…
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A time to live and a time to die
Amera Hassan Minneapolis, Minnesota Photo by Gaspar Zaldo on Pexels. “Well to be honest, doc, I don’t quite care whether I do live or die.” He said it so nonchalantly and he was smiling too, a crow-footed wrinkle on either side of his eyes. When this patient was first admitted to the floor, he…
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Saying goodbye
Anthony Papagiannis Thessaloniki, Greece “A walk into life’s sunset.” Photo by author. Her head is bald, her face pale. Only a couple of weeks have passed since her latest cycle of chemotherapy, which imposed its ravages but offered no benefit. The disease is marching relentlessly ahead, the survival horizon drawing closer each day. She…
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A series of messages
Fung Kam Yan Hong Kong Sign outside the author’s grandmother’s hospital ward. It was a Sunday. I sat outside the ward in my white coat, my eye protection fogging up, trying to catch my breath through the KF94 mask. My grandmother was inside, also struggling to breathe. The nurse said that only two visitors…
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Please don’t die in the hospital
Alexandra DeFelice Falls Church, Virginia, United States “Dead Flowers” by John Brighenti on Flickr. CC BY 2.0. I don’t like the way people die in the hospital. I don’t like the color schemes, the paleness that seeps into every empty wall, every window shade, every floor tile; every cafeteria counter, every elevator sign,…
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Allowing my death—a delusory end-of-life decision
Wolfgang Lederer Innsbruck, Austria Photo by Chen Mizrach on Unsplash. Together with the gift of life, I have received its finiteness, its perishability. As death is inescapable, when might I allow my life to end? Certainly, my life expectancy has to be longer than average, and I demand good physical and mental health right…