Nelson Mandela is Dying: Three Lessons for You and Your Family by Dr. Monica...
By typical end-of-life definitions, Nelson Mandela is dying (he is in critical condition after a lengthy hospital stay, and has had multiple recent admissions). Those of us in the healthcare...
View ArticleDoesn’t anyone know what dying looks like? by Monica Williams-Murphy, MD
I live and work in the house medicine. You would think that those of us who have chosen this profession would actually know what dying looks like. Furthermore, one would hope that if the doctor could...
View ArticleCounsel: Quit Medicine and Become an Accountant, By Monica Williams-Murphy, MD
“If you don’t want to deal with death and dying, then you need to quit medicine now and become an accountant…because this is what we have signed up for and we’ve got to do a better job at it.” These...
View Article“Signs” of Respect, by Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy
A “Sign” is defined as an object, quality or event whose presence indicates the probable presence of something else. One day after having read, “Attending the Dying” by my friend Megory Anderson, I...
View ArticleSeeing Death in Nature: Preparing Children for Loss, by Monica...
“The most significant variable of a relatively uncomplicated bereavement period or a prolonged and tragic mourning depends to a great deal on the relationship the child and the parent had, on the old...
View ArticleOne Washcloth: a Tool for Change
Over the past century our society has become distant from both death and the tending to our dead. According to Gary Laderman’s book Rest in Peace: a Cultural History of Death and the Funeral Industry...
View ArticleThe ? of “Suffering” by Monica Williams-Murphy, MD
“Oh God!” she groaned, looking upward with tears flooding her cheeks, which were stretched into the shape of agony. Her chest heaved uncontrollably with grief. “I am so very sorry,” I whispered again...
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