A good death

doi:10.1136/bmj.320.7243.1205

BMJ 2000;320:1205 ( 29 April )

Letters

A good death

Sharing control in death: the role of an "amicus mortis"

Research on dying is scanty

Quality of death can be measured outside hospices

Principles of palliative care are yet to be applied in acute hospitals

Care pathway in Wales aims to improve care of dying patients

Sharing control in death: the role of an "amicus mortis"

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ May I offer one further ingredient to a good death as discussed by Smith in his editorial¹ $---$ having an "amicus mortis,"a friend at death. Most items on his list of principles use theword control or imply it, yet the very process of death entailslosing control. Control of strong drugs is especially difficultfor the one who is dying. An amicus mortis makes it easy. I wrotethe following within days of my wife's death from cancer fouryears ago, and it was read at herfuneral.

"Towards the end I was given the privilege of care. I don't want to belittle the role of the care team. None the less, I wasthe lucky one in charge, especially at night, and my task wasan easy one, aided by small doses of morphine towards theend.

"She had no pain, no distress, no loss of . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

Kendall, M., Harris, F., Boyd, K., Sheikh, A., Murray, S. A, Brown, D., Mallinson, I., Kearney, N., Worth, A. (2007). Key challenges and ways forward in researching the "good death": qualitative in-depth interview and focus group study. BMJ 334: 521-521 [Abstract] [Full text]
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