178 research outputs found
Should we delay covid-19 vaccination in children?
No full textThe net benefit of vaccinating children is unclear, and vulnerable people worldwide should be prioritised instead, say Dominic Wilkinson, Ilora Finlay, and Andrew J Pollard
Assisted death: a basic right or a threat to the principal purpose of medicine?
No full textThere is much debate in the UK and abroad around whether the law should be changed to license doctors to prescribe lethal drugs to assist terminally ill patients to commit suicide. Here, Sir Graeme Catto argues that terminally ill mentally competent adults should be able to choose the time and place of their death. Opposing him, Baroness Ilora Finlay argues that both the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill and Lord Falconer’s private member’s bill in the House of Lords endanger patients’ safety and require doctors to assess patients against criteria that cannot be verified
Supporting families after the unexpected death of a child: greater access to multidisciplinary bereavement services is essential
No full textSudden Unexpected Death in Children (SUDIC), encompassing causes such as accidents, suicides, and unexplained medical conditions, constitutes one-third of all child deaths in higher-income countries. These events are deeply traumatic for families, leading to enduring psychological distress and significant unmet bereavement support needs. Thirty years after research first highlighted the lack of support for families affected by SUDIC, many still face isolation and limited access to bereavement care. Investigations into a child’s death often compound trauma, as families navigate interactions with police, coroners, and medical examiners without adequate emotional or practical support. Trauma experienced during this time profoundly impacts family mental health, frequently leading to conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression.Support for professionals responding to SUDIC is also limited, leaving them vulnerable to the psychological toll of traumatic exposure. Few receive training in providing bereavement care, and many rely on coping strategies that inadvertently heighten parents' distress.Despite these challenges, inequities persist, with palliative care frameworks historically prioritising life-limiting conditions and neglecting families affected by SUDIC. Examples of integrated bereavement care models—such as Sweden’s national guidelines, Wales’ 2Wish charity, and England’s Joint Agency Response (JAR)—demonstrate the potential for systemic solutions. However, variability in implementation and a lack of robust evaluation metrics underscore the urgent need for research to measure the effectiveness of such programmes. Healthcare systems must prioritise the integration of bereavement and emergency services to ensure immediate, culturally sensitive, and comprehensive support for SUDIC families. This requires collaboration across sectors, led by palliative care services, with investment in workforce training and psychosocial interventions. Addressing these gaps is critical to mitigating the devastating psychological toll of SUDIC on families and responders alike.<br/
Should Assisted Dying be Part of Mainstream Healthcare?
No full textThe debate in many countries prior to the introduction of a lawful assisted dying (AD) model focussed upon whether AD was morally right or wrong. There was less focus on how it impacts health care systems and health care professionals, or how patients and families navigate these systems. Yet the majority of laws permitting AD are medicalised, with clinical teams being directly involved in AD. In this chapter, we explore whether a de-medicalised, civic AD model involving third sector organisations (outside of health care) working with an external review panel, rather than a medicalised approach (within the health care system), should be considered. We use the term AD to encompasses a patient receiving medication to end their life which is either self-administered (assisted suicide - AS) or administered by someone else (euthanasia)
Reviewing prosecution policy on assisted suicide and 'mercy killing' in England and Wales
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Reviewing prosecution policy on assisted suicide and 'mercy killing' in England and Wales
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Care of the dying in general practice
No full textThe hospice movement has improved the care for the dying patient. But can the hospice experience be easily applied to general practice? In one year in this practice 10 patients were terminally ill, and three of these died at home. The clinical problems encountered over four years are described to illustrate the factors that affect prescribing, which makes caring for a dying patient at home different from that in hospital or even in a hospice
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