China’s living will legislation: next steps to improving patient dignity

By Daoxin Yin1, 2,Mai Wang1, 2,Luxia Zhang1, 2, 3 Affiliations 1. National Institute of Health Data Science at Peking University, Beijing, China; 2. Advanced Institute of Information Technology, Peking University, Hangzhou, China 3. Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Peking University First Hospital, Peking University Institute of Nephrology, Beijing, China; Corresponding author Luxia Zhang, MD, MPH […]

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It’s not about the antibiotics

By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for End of Life Care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077 The cough is getting worse, Breathing-once a silent unnoticed activity Punctuating the stillness between sentences Now a cacophony of rasps and gurgles Such an undertak-… a challenge (Let’s avoid some words). […]

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Medical Death Certification. Do we need medical training before medical examiners?

By Dr Pablo Millares Martin. GP Senior Partner. Whitehall Surgery, Wortley Ring Rd. Leeds, UK. E-mail: Pablo.martin@nhs.net Introduction The Medical Certificate of Cause of Death (MCCD) is a very important legal document with dual functionality: to provide the information required for the registration of a death, but also to facilitate statistical comparisons of mortality causes, […]

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Poem: A New Year Resolution.

By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Clinical lead for end of life care, Ashford and St Peter’s NHS Foundation Trust.   A New Year Resolution. Sparklers shine, smoke all around, Fireworks leap as corridors fill Manager’s myopically seeing only the bill, Desperate searching, no solution to be found. The hospital is burning down. […]

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At risk feeding?

By Dr Matthew Doré (Chair of Palliative Care Congress) and Dr Alan McPherson (Chair of The Regional Palliative Medicine Group) “I don’t want thickener!”, “I want to eat it, not down my RIG” or most commonly “I want my roast dinner and all the trimmings, not smooshed!” Sound familiar? There has been an ongoing debate […]

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