Authors: Dr Daniel Hattam – Junior clinical fellow at Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale Dr Tiffany D’Silva – Junior clinical fellow at Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale Dr Siwan Seaman – Consultant in Palliative medicine and medical director at Marie Curie Hospice, Cardiff and the Vale Dr Kate Crossland – Speciality […]
Category: Feature
Are We Treating Cancer or Meaning? The Rise of Advanced Pharmacotherapy
Author: Yusuke Sugama, MD, PhD Medical Oncologist, Higashi Sapporo Hospital. ORCID iD: 0000-0003-2899-0512 The Blurring Lines of Treatment and Care Have you ever prescribed a systemic therapy for an advanced cancer patient, fully aware that the biological benefit might be marginal, yet feeling it was somehow the “right” thing to do? When a patient says, […]
The Silence Between the Beeps: A Physician at His Sister’s Bedside
By Ali T. Taher, MD, PhD, FRCP Ali is Professor of Medicine at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where he serves as Director of the Naef K. Basile Cancer Institute and Associate Vice President for Academic Centers, Development and External Affairs. He is internationally recognized for his pioneering work in thalassemia and iron metabolism, […]
The Last Christmas?
Dr Matthew Doré – Palliative Care Consultant Northern Ireland Hospice & Belfast Trust Hon Sec of APM and Co-lead Clin ECHO I am blessed to have my parents and my wife’s parents all coming around for Christmas this year, and in the flurry of Christmas preparation it got me thinking. But, and with a big […]
Summer 2025 Newsletter from the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer
Author: Dr. Kunihiko Ishitani President of The International Research Society of the Sapporo Conference for Palliative and Supportive Care in Cancer (SCPSC) President, Higashi Sapporo Hospital, Japan Our Summer 2025 Newsletter is out, and here are some reflections. “Financial Toxicity” from the Perspective of “Human Dignity”: An Ethical Reconsideration in Cancer Care Introduction I recently […]
Assisted Dying in Germany- Munich study raises concerns
Author: Mark Taubert, NHS Consultant and Professor of Palliative Medicine, Cardiff, UK It can be a challenge finding data on assisted dying and euthanasia in jurisdictions where it is legal. In some areas the data is not made available, elsewhere not much is recorded or observed beyond patient demographics. Finding detail on complication rates and […]
Do They Go Gently?
Authors: Dr. Benjamin Thomas, Staff Specialist in Palliative Medicine, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW, Australia. bluesky: andiyar.bsky.social Dr. Greg Barclay, Senior Staff Specialist in Palliative Medicine, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, NSW, Australia Introduction: Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) is becoming more widespread in multiple jurisdictions around the world. Legislation is currently […]
Assisted dying in the UK – law change must be informed by robust evidence
Author: Professor Katherine E Sleeman, King’s College London, UK The UK is moving closer to legalisation of assisted dying. One of the arguments made in favour of legalisation is the limit of palliative care to resolve all suffering. Many of the speeches made in support of the Leadbeater bill (which would legalise assisted dying […]
Discrimination-driven deaths – Analysing Ontario Coroner Reports on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
Author: Dr. Ramona Coelho, Family Physician; Senior Fellow of Domestic and Health Policy at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute; Member of Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Death Review Committee; Ontario, Canada. New – Listen to this post on Spotify, read by the author: Introduction: As a family physician in Ontario, Canada, my practice largely serves marginalised groups: […]
On losing a friend and renouncing Schopenhauer
By Prof Mark Taubert, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Cardiff, UK “Mostly it is loss which teaches us about the worth of things.” ― Arthur Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena This year, I lost a very dear friend called Yiannis. Only in his late forties, he had a rare form of bone marrow cancer. He was a successful […]