2008 Evaluation Of Guardian And Observer Websites On Palliative Care

Guardian and Observer Unlike Times Newspapers, which was hard to search, and the Telegraph, which didn’t have much, my impression of Guardian and its Sunday partner (with the Guardian, it probably wouldn’t be a spouse) was that they had a lot of chunky articles and regular news on various aspects of palliative care. This mainly seems to be because of its very extensive ‘Commentisfree’ website, which has a lot of authoritative articles by people from health and social care, and stuff from people in the field. Unfortnately, the website kept on corpsing my browser (too many whizzy features, if you ask me), so I gave up looking after a time. My picks from the website: An interesting diary by a family supporting their mother in the Netherlands, whose doctor is providing assisted dying. One of the things it shows you is that communication within families may not be of the best, jus as communication between professionals is not. Weide, M. (2008) 'I'm going to die on Monday at 6.15pm' Guardian Family 23rd August 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/23/euthanasia.cancer One of the finalists in the international development journalism competition in the Guardian wrote an interesting feature on a church in South Africa providing, among other things, a palliative care service for people with AIDS and cancer: Clark, J. (2008) The Aids church http://www.guardian.co.uk/journalismcompetition/the.aids.church (it seems this didn’t appear in the newspaper, more’s the pity) The coverage from the Hay literature festival, which the Guardian sponsors, included a response from a youngish man on the event, apparently mainly attended by the elderly, discussing Dame Mary Warnock’s Easeful Death (co-authored with a medical lawyer Eizabeth MacDonald). He was struck by the ‘slippery slope’ argument raised there, but also was floored by the philosophical argument from an audience member that since we can know nothing of death, how can we rationally choose it? Dammann, G. (2009) The Mary Warnock experience Guardian.co.uk 29th May 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/29/themarywarnockexperience Brief news report of the announcement by Ivan Otherinitativehere (Lewis, the care services minister) of another initative (as always, Ivan), this time on care for dying children. Carvel, J. (2008) £20m to care for dying children. Guardian. 20th February 2008: 11. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/20/children.health This is a really informative omnibus article, with interviews with GPs, embalmers ad the like who handle your body after your death. Atkinson, R. and Tavner, S. (2008) What really happens when you die? Guardian 16th February 2008. http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/feb/16/healthandwellbeing.weekend2

While the article about Barbara Pointon, who cared for her husband with dementia fro many years and was featured on a teleprog, is supposedly about dementia care, it also has a lot to say about senstive caring for dying people. Topping, A. (2007) For the love of Malcolm Guardian Society. 12th December 2007: 1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/dec/12/dementiacare While in a way this is another article in support of assisted dying, it makes the unusual point that if assisted dying is available in some jurisdictions, it is unfair for it not to be available here. It puts pressure on people because they have to go through complex manoevres to go elsewhere. Riley, A. (2007) Dying for something better Guardian.co.uk 12th November 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/nov/12/dyingforsomethingbetter Interesting description of a service enabling people to plan how they want to be cared for in advance. Gould, M. (2007) Pleasing conclusion Guardian Society. 17th October 2007: 7. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/17/guardiansocietysupplement.practice Useful article about how the Mental Capacity Act, coming into frce, makes advance directives more central in healthcare. Roberts, Y. (2007) The final taboo Guradian.co.uk 30th September 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/sep/30/mostthingsmayneverhappenthi sonewill An article by the policy director of Help the Aged saying that older people get less good help with dying than younger people: Cann, P. (2006) Past caring. Guardian.co.uk. 12th April 2006. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/apr/12/longtermcare.comment1 In this fabulous article, an ‘expert in palliative care’ looks at various art objectes that convey something about death, dying and palliative care. You can click to see photos of the items: Bertram, S. (2002) Looking at loss. Guardian.co.uk 15th November 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2002/nov/15/2 Finally, some materials on doing the job: a feature on being a hospital consultant in palliative care: Gadgil, A. (2003) Hospice consultant in palliative care, Oxford Guardian.co.uk. 20th March 2003. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2003/mar/20/publicvoices14 And a nice feature on being a social worker in palliative care: Jones, N. (2007) A day in the life of a palliative care social work team manager. Guardian.co.uk 1st August 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/aug/01/socialcare.publicsectorcareers2