RITE AND REASON:A national forum on end-of-life care in Ireland will be opened tomorrow by President McAleese
OUR GOING out is as important as our coming in, or so spiritual people tell us. Our dying is one of a number of stages in what God has intended. Indeed, all stages are deserving of the ultimate respect.
The question is: wherein does this respect lie, particularly in Ireland where we laud our own systems for dealing with death.
We look the bereaved in the eye and can say “sorry for your trouble” by rote; we indulge in the wake with élan and say the Rosary with military precision. We say that “if there is anything I can do, you only have to ask”. But does this mean that we are comfortable with the spiritual and human mystery of death?
The evidence would seem to be, and more will emerge over the coming months, that the Irish score no more than a good pass in matters dying. If nothing else we are contradictory. This is why the Forum on End of Life in Ireland has become a listening post.
It wants to find out how we see end-of-life issues and not just the practical matters of death and dying. We also want to know about the spiritual core of the dying of the light. It is not just a religious matter. It goes beyond man-made constructs of what is the ultimate reality.
Too often we rely on moribund religion or even the secular to explain the spiritual. We gainsay the mystery, and death is surely this. And in denying the central meaning, the profundity of the death experience, we beg questions of our essential humanity. Death is part of being human.
“Sorry for your trouble” goes nowhere near tackling it.
We associate death with desolation, loneliness, widowhood and bereaved families. We visualise the role of undertakers, wills and pensions, but we rarely associate one with the other. We forget how one death can affect so many people.
Most important, we can fail to recognise that people do die alone and in pain.
Elderly Irish citizens can pass away in beds only 13 inches from their ward neighbour. Patients can be resuscitated painfully, despite their wishes.
We seek the cure, forgetting that sometimes there is none. The hospice and palliative care experts put it well: death is a natural process, and, most tellingly, it is a process which should neither be hastened nor postponed. It is also one where we should strive to relieve pain.
Here perhaps is one jewel in what should be the essential understanding of what it is to live, and die. Death is something that happens, however tragic for those left behind. So let’s deal with it. Let’s deal with it well.
As George Hook, the rugby pundit, has said: let us ensure that each death is the best dispatch ever from this planet.
In doing this we take on the mystery, what we are all facing. We get consolation in knowing that when our turn comes we will not be unnecessarily medicated or conversely denied pain relief. We are assured that our wishes will be respected.
We will, if possible, get choices on place of death and treatments. Even in our dying we will be able to expect esteem. And if we die suddenly, those left behind will be supported professionally and compassionately, by everyone.
First, however, we must find out what every sector of Irish society thinks about death. The forum is therefore asking everyone to tell us what they believe are the essential issues in regard to life’s end.
We have begun listening to the emergency services, legal and human rights groups, illness support bodies, health professionals, campaigners, official organisations, carers and many others.
When we know what they believe a national coalition on end of life will be formed. This will deal with the issues that have been raised.
Paul Murray is co-ordinator of the forum, which is sponsored by the Irish Hospice Foundation. It takes place at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin. Relevant submissions accepted at endoflife.ie or by post to The Forum, Irish Hospice Foundation, 32 Nassau Street, Dublin 2. Further information at 01-675 5970 or on www.endoflife.ie