Recently, a lady told me that she had just lost her brother who died suddenly, three days after a fall on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the circumstances of his death leave some doubt as to the exact cause of death. Is it due to his cancer, discovered a few days earlier? Is it related to his Read more
Death. Dying with dignity. Facing death with courage. Dying well. Bereavement. We all have to face these issues at some stage – but how? Is there an art to dying? Yes, there is. A new website hosted by the Catholic Church in England and Wales has decided to confront the big taboo and is using Read more
Residents are threatening to move out if a multi-million dollar funeral home touted as a “spiritual facility” is built in Christchurch’s southwest. Long-standing Christchurch company Lamb and Hayward wants to build a new 1222-square metre “spiritual facility”, or funeral home, on 2 hectares of residential land on the corner of Halswell Junction and Wigram roads. Read more
We can never truly understand another’s experience of dying, or understand what happens psychically, spiritually, physically and emotionally when a person is close to death. An incredibly subjective experience, we can only make guesses as to what being in that ‘twilight zone’ of hovering between life and death might actually be like. When I worked Read more
What would you do if you had only months left to live? It’s a question being put to residents of Auckland’s North Shore as part of Hospice Awareness Week. Hospice North Shore is putting blackboards up across the area inviting locals to share what they would do if they had just months to live, with Read more
The Death Café movement continues to grow and recently established in two locations in the Nelson region. Takaka Death Cafe facilitator Aralyn Doiron said Death Cafe was about demystifying death and dying. She that doing this helps to make our lives richer in many ways. Death Cafes are an increasingly popular phenomenon worldwide, bringing strangers together to discuss death Read more
Jesuit theologian and educator Michael Paul Gallagher died in Ireland on November 6 after a short illness. Fr Gallagher, 76, was a former Professor of Fundamental Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome, where he was dean of the theology faculty from 2005 to 2008. Fr Gallagher also lectured in University College, Dublin, as well Read more
When someone was legally dead? This is a question discussed by the Law Commission. It released a 252-page report Death, Burial and Cremation – a new law for contemporary New Zealand, last week. The report is a response to a request to undertake a first principles review of the Burial and Cremation Act 1964. While the report Read more
Bestselling author Dr. Atul Gawande’s new book focuses on medical care for the dying. In an interview, he speaks with SPIEGEL about end-of-life priorities, when treatment is a mistake and how rules in care homes are made to be broken. SPIEGEL: Doctor Gawande, are you beginning to feel your age? Gawande: Without question. I had Read more
As I was writing last week, my wife’s mother was dying. She died Sunday morning, at 95, after a long and full life. It was a good death, to use an unfortunately old-fashioned phrase, but death is still death. One effect, as many of you will understand, is to make me think more about death Read more