One thing is certain: we all die. That truth has been brought ever-closer by the coronavirus pandemic sweeping through our communities. Yet so many of us will do anything we can to distract ourselves and push this fact from our minds. We’ve come to view death as a medical failure, rather than a natural and inevitable part of life. And in sync with this approach, modern medicine is adept at keeping us alive but struggles to support us in our dying.
Palliative care, a clinical specialism which helps those facing death to live well right up to the end, supports hundreds of thousands of people in the UK each year but receives less than 0.3% of the £500 million cancer research budget - just one indicator of the pervasive nature of death denial and avoidance in Western culture.
Fundamental to palliative care is the concept of ‘holism’ - the integration of all aspects of a patient’s care - but the study and treatment of psychological and spiritual suffering urgently needs more attention. In the face of mortality, it’s common to experience the loss of one's sense of self, and of hope and autonomy, and for questions to arise about the nature, purpose and meaning of life.
