By way of telling my story, this is an edited version of a talk I gave for the local palliative care team’s annual memorial service… We really need to talk more about death. Death matters. We all do it. It is an inevitable part of life. And yet we shroud it in euphemism, hushed secrecy, … More Memorial service speech – my story
Death, doctors and personal grief Hello and welcome. This site is intended to fill a gap in the www being a dedicated space for health professionals to reflect and explore our relationship with death and grief, particularly when personally affected by a death in the family. For my purposes here, I define family as including … More Welcome to DocGrief
I gave a couple of pecha kucha presentations at a recent GP conference which I have recorded and will post here. They over lap a little but each has a slightly different focus. Doctors and grieving I have been a GP in country South Australia for over 25 years. In 2002 I hooked up with … More Doctors and Grieving
I gave a couple of pecha kucha presentations at a recent GP conference which I have recorded and will post here. They over lap a little but each has a slightly different focus. Online support & grief I am talking in this session about online support and grief. Before I jump into this, let me … More Online grief support
This was about my emotions after a lovely teenager I cared for (the daughter of medical colleagues/friends) passed away after a battle with a specific type of Leukemia I diagnosed almost unwittingly. I gave a lot of thought about documenting my experience -as a GP caring for a teenager -beautiful both inside and out. It … More Caring for a colleague’s daughter
I lost a patient in early April. BB was not just “a patient” she was the most compliant of all my patients . I looked after her from her first visit to her last (16+y. ). Looking at the computerized record I noted she saw some of my colleagues from time to time but I … More What do you do when a patient dies?
Originally posted on Genevieve's anthology:
Assessing to Drive teaching Sydney June 2017 Since my partner was hit and killed in 2015 by an unfit elderly driver, I’ve been on a mission to increase awareness of the importance of fitness to drive assessments by health professionals. My YouTube video on assessing fitness to drive has…
Yesterday I completed my three days of ENAME (Emergency Nursing and Midwife Educaction) education. Up until lunchtime I felt I could take on the world! My confidence soared as I had confronted the Asthma Scenario on day two and hung in there! I was sitting between two colleagues who had been in attendance on the … More Workplace triggers
Dealing with an autopsy report of a loved one as a doctor. Today marks 12 years since MJ died. A post on a GP Facebook page started a thread about discussing autopsy reports with next of kin when the deceased or the NOK is a regular patient. It sparked a few reflections about dealing with … More The autopsy report
25th December, 2016 Christmas means different things to different people. For Christians, it is, of course, a fundamentally important event spiritually. For those of other faiths, and the non-religious, Christmas has different connotations. You may or may not choose to celebrate it, but one thing is for sure, living in a place like an Australia, … More Christmas Reflections
SMACC conferences seem to be amazing melting pots of lived experience coupled with a passion for telling stories. SMACC is Social Media and Critical Care. Those involved have a busy presence on Twitter and a variety of blogs, and their international conferences sell out in moments, melting down the internet while they do! The background … More Dr Mike Winters- don’t forget A & B (reflecting on witnessing his grandfather’s cardiac arrest )
A lovely interview from Talks at Google with the widow of Paul Kalanithi.Lucy is an internist at Stanford, and Paul was a neurosurgeon with a wonderful turn of words who reflected on his life, cancer experience and death in the book “When breath becomes air” which is very much a worthy read. Lucy has previously … More Interview with Dr Lucy Kalanithi
