Many Australians come to the end of their life while living in aged care. But damningly, the aged care royal commission found many residents have worse palliative care options than those living elsewhere.
The testimonies of bereavement counsellors reveals devastatingly lonely experiences of grief, unexpected feelings of loss and even some silver linings.
Like a Rorschach test, the incident offers limitless interpretations. But newly published photographs of Yukio Mishima in his final weeks alive show an artist obsessed with scripting out death.
For members of the minority religion of Wicca and witchcraft – part of contemporary paganism – Halloween is not just a children’s holiday: It is both a celebration and acceptance of death.
Hindu philosophy believes the soul to be immortal. Death is considered to be the end of only physical incarnation, as the soul continues its journey of multiple births until its final liberation.
The former justice received a Jewish funeral at the Supreme Court. But in other ways, Ginsburg’s burial is breaking with traditional Jewish death rituals.
It’s not always easy to determine the cause of a death. Distinguishing between whether someone has died from or with COVID-19 is necessary for understanding the impact of the virus.
We can strike a balance between minimising transmission risk and practising compassion to allow loved ones to visit patients with COVID-19 in ICU at the end of their lives.
One of the hard things about life during a pandemic is the all encompassing lack of certainty. The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard can help us make our peace with this situation.
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford