A. David Lewis, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Among comic book fans, there’s the joke that the only characters in superhero comics who stay dead are Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben, Batman’s parents, and Captain America’s sidekick Bucky. For everybody else…
Headstones at the Dudley Park cemetery in Payneham, South Australia, were recently bulldozed as part of the ongoing “recycling” of more than 400 graves. Some people were shocked to realise that gravesites…
The diagnosis of a palliative illness in a child or adolescent is devastating for all involved: parents, family members and the children themselves, as they grieve for life they had planned and believed…
Halloween is boring. I used to think this quite often when I was young. Not because I didn’t enjoy wearing costumes or collecting candy or even being chased by random neighbourhood dogs while trick or…
At some stage, you will die. You may not know the time, date or circumstance of your death, but you do know it’s inevitable. Contemplating this fact can be uncomfortable. It evokes anxiety and fear in…
More than half of Australians have a will (59%) to determine how their property will be divided after they die. And 30% have appointed a power of attorney to make financial decisions if they lose the capacity…
Have you thought about how you would want to be treated if you cannot make your own decisions? You may be unconscious after car accident, you may be so ill you cannot communicate, or you may be dying and…
Seamus Heaney’s final poem has been published just over a year after his death. Finished ten days before he died aged 74 in August 2013, the poem is a mediation on a painting of a canal by the French artist…
The baby boomers are growing old and in the next 25 years the number of Australians who die each year will double. People want to die comfortably at home, supported by family and friends and effective…
Archaeologists have just discovered Greece’s largest ancient tomb. As well as attracting international media attention, the find has also had high-level political interest within Greece – the country’s…
Lana Del Rey is so boring. The most interesting thing about her is the gorgeous, Prell-girl hair that frames her expressionless face in videos and photographs. In interviews, she likes to complain about…
Let’s talk of graves, of worms, and epitaphs … And tell sad stories of the death of kings These melancholic words, uttered by Shakespeare’s Richard II, tell us of a preoccupation with death and mortality…
One of the many quotes from Maya Angelou that people are sharing on this day of her home coming is: I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will…
Epic Records, in conjunction with the estate of Michael Jackson released the King of Pop Michael Jackson’s second posthumous album Xscape last week. To create the album Epic Records chairman and CEO L.A…
As a general rule, one place you really don’t want to find yourself is in-between a Melburnian and a piece of real estate. But one group of long-term city residents has been getting in the way of developers…
Death can be a problematic topic. Although not taboo, we’re simply not encouraged to talk about it normally. We’ll happily discuss it in an abstract sort of way, ponder over the death of others (as long…
Go ahead and contemplate your own mortality. How does it feel? Would you be surprised to learn that it can potentially improve your mental health to think about your death more often? The Russian novelist…
Very few, if any, medical students would say their reason for wanting to become a doctor is so they can face death on a regular basis. Yet it is a crucially important part of the job, especially when patients…
Allowing people with incurable and unsupportable illness to die is ethically acceptable to most people, even though it’s unlikely there will ever be unanimity about when and how we allow such deaths. But…
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