ON Monday, I was able to make my first visit to St Richard’s Hospice in Worcester and see at first hand the wonderful work they are doing.
Hospices have not been around for that long and the story of how they came into being is a fascinating one. They are, in fact, one of the greatest gifts that the Christian church has given to our society over the last generation.
They were the inspiration of a committed Christian, Dame Cicely Saunders. As a Christian, she saw dying not as something to be feared, but as a spiritual event which can bring meaning to life and provide an opportunity for reconciliation. Frustrated by not being taken seriously because she was not a doctor, as an adult she trained to become one.
Having done so she was able, with the help of local churches, to open the very first hospice, St Christopher’s in Sydenham in 1967. There she ensured that the dying were surrounded with love and care, relieved of pain and given dignity as they approached their death. Very soon, inspired by this example, a large number of hospices were founded across the land, and as a result, care for the dying in general, not just in hospices, is now totally transformed. Palliative care, as it is called, is one of the fastest growing specialties in medicine.
Any of us whose loved ones have been cared for in a hospice will have cause to be grateful for what they offer. Not that long ago, my own father-in-law was cared for superbly at a hospice in South Carolina – a reminder to me of how far the hospice movement has spread from those small beginnings in Sydenham.
A discussion surfaces in our society from time to time about euthanasia, prompted largely by the fact that Lord Joffe, a passionate believer in it, regularly introduces bills into the House of Lords to promote it.
There are very good grounds for opposing euthanasia from an entirely secular as well as a Christian point of view. It is interesting, though, that almost all doctors who care for the dying are opposed to euthanasia.
They know more about dying than anyone and they know, as did Cicely Saunders, that enabling people to experience a dignified death is a much better option than helping them to terminate their lives.