Rabbi Julia Neuberger's division of health delivery institutions into
churches and garages (1) is exemplified by care of the dying. Hospices are
churches. People die in them, usually without artificial use of fluids and
food, from their diseases to the comfort of their loved ones. Geriatric
wards, whatever other descriptions we use, are garages where relatives,
encouraged by the press, are as suspicious as doctors are about mechanics.
When patients die in a similar manner to those in hospices, accusations
are made of covert euthanasia to increase the use of beds.
Paediatric units are churches with Great Ormond Street as the holy of
holies. This explains the extreme nature of the reaction to Bristol.
1.Neuberger J. The NHS as a theological institution. Bmj
1999;319:1588-9
Rapid Response:
Churches and garages of health care
Rabbi Julia Neuberger's division of health delivery institutions into
churches and garages (1) is exemplified by care of the dying. Hospices are
churches. People die in them, usually without artificial use of fluids and
food, from their diseases to the comfort of their loved ones. Geriatric
wards, whatever other descriptions we use, are garages where relatives,
encouraged by the press, are as suspicious as doctors are about mechanics.
When patients die in a similar manner to those in hospices, accusations
are made of covert euthanasia to increase the use of beds.
Paediatric units are churches with Great Ormond Street as the holy of
holies. This explains the extreme nature of the reaction to Bristol.
1.Neuberger J. The NHS as a theological institution. Bmj
1999;319:1588-9
Competing interests: No competing interests