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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They told me not to go:  Flat Holm Island, Wales

by Mark Taubert, Palliative Care Consultant, Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom    Twitter: @ProfMarkTaubert A trip to a remote island with a derelict cholera hospital, to record a National Heritage Lottery funded audio podcast about pandemics, palliative care and isolation, inadvertently turns into an adventure.   Flat Holm, or ‘Ynys Echni’, its Welsh name, is […]

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Poem: My bubble

By Dr Joseph Hawkins, Consultant in Palliative medicine and end of life clinical lead, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospital. Twitter: @JoeHawk75825077   My bubble   Living in a bubble isn’t so bad The view may be different looking out but then, Who says that what you see is Really me? I only have your word […]

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A simple recipe for a beautiful dish- Training, Motivation and Expertise in palliative care in cancer:

By Denise Vacca1, Giampiero Porzio2, Raffaele Giusti3. 1U.O. Terapia del Dolore e Cure Palliative ASL Sulcis – Carbonia, Italy. 2Associazione Tumori Toscana, Home Care Service, Tuscany, Italy. 3Medical Oncology Unit, Sant’Andrea Hospital of Rome, Rome, Italy. Twitter account: @oncoblogger   Giampiero Porzio M.D. while eating a perfect Italian meal: Birra & Panino!   In Italy, […]

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