Over the past 60 years a new field of medicine has emerged – palliative care. In this episode we interview Sarah Foot, a Christian palliative care doctor, who explains how she treats the physical, mental, social and even spiritual needs of those who are dying, the Christian foundations of the discipline, and what impact her profession has on her. We also discussed the renewed movement to legalise assisted suicide in Britain and other countries, how her colleagues viewed this, the ignorance which lies behind many of the arguments for changing the law, and the implications for palliative care should assisted dying be imposed upon it.
In each episode of Matters of Life and Death, brought to you by Premier Unbelievable?, John Wyatt and his son Tim discuss issues in healthcare, ethics, technology, science, faith and more. John is a doctor, professor of ethics, and writer and speaker on many of these topics, while Tim is a religion and social affairs journalist. We talk about how Christians can better engage with a particular question of life, death or something else in between.
John’s on holiday this week so we’re bringing you a classic episode from the Matters of Life and Death vault. A couple of years ago we interviewed Sarah Foot, a Christian palliative care doctor. She spoke about how she treats the physical, mental, social and even spiritual needs of those who are dying, the Christian foundations of the discipline, and what impact her profession has on her. We also discussed the renewed movement to legalise assisted suicide in Britain and other countries, how her colleagues viewed this, the ignorance which lies behind many of the arguments for changing the law, and the implications for palliative care should assisted dying be imposed upon it.
– Subscribe to the Matters of Life and Death podcast: https://pod.link/1509923173
– If you want to go deeper into some of the topics we discuss, visit John’s website: http://www.johnwyatt.com
– For more resources to help you explore faith and the big questions, visit: http://www.premierunbelievable.com
There’s lots more on the question of death and end of life care in my book Dying Well and you can also find plenty more to read in the end of life resources page too.