Palliative care consultant - Professor Christina Faull

In these stories Palliative Care Consultant Professor Christina Faull talks about situations of social pain that she has met in her work as a doctor. The first story is about an older woman who wanted to go to her 'home' country to die. In this case Christina had to balance a consideration for the women's greater social and spiritual support that she would have in her home country with access to morphine for pain control.  Christina then goes on discuss another case of the ethics of decision making within families where the Western model of patient autonomy is not always appropriate.

The second story is about a recent African migrant mother who was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas. The woman and her family had no close friends in the area and Christina reflects upon the role of care when pain cannot be alleviated. For Christina not abandoning a patient, even when you can do nothing is a caring response. 

 

You can hear the full interview here.

Interview with Palliative Care consultant Christina Faull, here she tells a story about the social pain of an older African migrant to the Midlands who wanted to return to her 'home' country to die. The second story is about the complexities of end of life decision making.

In this part of the interview, palliative care consultant Christina Faull tells another story about the experience of social pain for migrants at the end of life. She talks about the doctor as a therapeutic intervention, 'even when you can't change anything'. The biggest barrier/issue, she feels is whether people will trust you.

Jonathan Koffman - Senior Researcher, Kings College (London) 

We need to dispense with the 'One Size Fits All' approach to pain Jonathan suggests in these stories