freelance science journalist and author
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 21 March 2016: We can talk about good deaths and bad deaths, cheating death or embracing it, but the one thing that we all seem to reach for is this: when we die, we want to do it our way. Tony Smith (not his real name) says his mother and … Continue reading The tough question we all need to think about: what type of death do you want?
From Medicine Today, April 2014: Terminally-ill cancer patients receiving palliative chemotherapy in the four months before death are more likely to die in intensive care units, and more likely to have CPR and mechanical ventilation in the last week of life. Analysis of data from a US-based prospective longitudinal study showed that 56% of 386 … Continue reading Dying in ICU more likely with palliative chemotherapy
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 17 January 2014: In the 15th century, an unknown Dominican friar penned Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying. At the time, it offered an immensely popular guide on the attainment of a ‘good death’ and spawned a rash of translations and copycats across Europe. One wonders what its author … Continue reading Is there a right way to approach death?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 6 june 2013: What is death? On the surface, this seems like a simple question. After all, if somebody is not breathing, their heart is no longer beating, they are cold, waxy and stiff, then it is possible to say with a fair degree of certainty that they are dead. … Continue reading Defining death: when exactly do we die?
