The heart-wrenchingly honest and fascinating new book from forensic pathologist and bestselling author of UNNATURAL CAUSES, Dr Richard Shepherd A TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 'Each chapter is like a finely-crafted detective story . . . Shepherd writes beautifully, and despite its subject, the book is very funny in parts' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Enlightening, strangely uplifting . . . Shepherd's final chapter on death itself is a meditation of great beauty and light which puts all the darkness of the previous pages into perspective' DAILY MAIL 'Deeply insightful. Unflinching' THE TIMES 'Fascinating' DAILY EXPRESS 'This book is about death, but in it I will take readers on a journey through life . . .' _________ Dr Richard Shepherd, Britain's top forensic pathologist, has spent a lifetime close to the dead. As a medical detective, each autopsy he carries out is its own unique investigation, uncovering the secrets not only of how a person died, but also of how they lived. Through twenty-four of his most intriguing, enlightening and never-before-told cases, Dr Shepherd shares autopsies that span the seven ages of human existence, and have taught him as much about the marvels of life as the inevitability of death. From old to young, from murder to misadventure, and from illness to accidental death, each of these bodies has something to reveal: about human development, about mortality, about its owner's life story, about justice and even about Shepherd himself. From the bestselling author of Unnatural Causes comes a powerful, moving and above all reassuring book about death as it touches our own lives - how to understand it, and, when our time comes (as it must), how to embrace it as the last great adventure. _________ 'He has the ability to examine himself and other people with the same forensic eye that he applies to corpses - one of the reasons why his books feel so life-enhancing' Daily Telegraph Praise for Dr Richard Shepherd 'Gripping, grimly fascinating, and I suspect I'll read it at least twice' Evening Standard 'A deeply mesmerising memoir of forensic pathology. Human and fascinating' Nigella Lawson 'An absolutely brilliant book. I really recommend it, I don't often say that but it's fascinating' Jeremy Vine, BBC Radio 2 'Puts the reader at his elbow as he wields the scalpel' Guardian 'Fascinating, gruesome yet engrossing' Richard and Judy, Daily Express 'Fascinating, insightful, candid, compassionate' Observer

"[S]heds light not only on the obstacles to making motherhood safer, but to improving the health of poor populations in general."-Social Anthropology Since 1987, when the global community first recognized the high frequency of women in developing countries dying from pregnancy-related causes, little progress has been made to combat this problem. This study follows the global policies that have been implemented in Solola, Guatemala in order to decrease high rates of maternal mortality among indigenous Mayan women. The author examines the diverse meanings and understandings of motherhood, pregnancy, birth and birth-related death among the biomedical personnel, village women, their families, and midwives. These incongruous perspectives, in conjunction with the implementation of such policies, threaten to disenfranchise clients from their own cultural understandings of self. The author investigates how these policies need to meld with the everyday lives of these women, and how the failure to do so will lead to a failure to decrease maternal deaths globally. From the Introduction: An unspoken effect of reducing maternal mortality to a medical problem is that life and death become the only outcomes by which pregnancy and birth are understood. The specter of death looms large and limits our full exploration of either our attempts to curb maternal mortality, or the phenomenon itself. Certainly women's survival during childbirth is the ultimate measure of success of our efforts. Yet using pregnancy outcomes and biomedical attendance at birth as the primary feedback on global efforts to make pregnancy safer is misguided.

This study reassesses the criminal body from sentencing to execution and afterlife, using the nineteenth-century Red Barn murder as a case study. Positioned within the burgeoning field of medical humanities, it places culture and power at the centre of debates surrounding criminal justice and public punishment.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 licence. This book is a multidisciplinary work that investigates the notion of posthumous harm over time. The question what is and when is death, affects how we understand the possibility of posthumous harm and redemption. Whilst it is impossible to hurt the dead, it is possible to harm the wishes, beliefs and memories of persons that once lived. In this way, this book highlights the vulnerability of the dead, and makes connections to a historical oeuvre, to add critical value to similar concepts in history that are overlooked by most philosophers. There is a long historical view of case studies that illustrate the conceptual character of posthumous punishment; that is, dissection and gibbetting of the criminal corpse after the Murder Act (1752), and those shot at dawn during the First World War. A long historical view is also taken of posthumous harm; that is, body-snatching in the late Georgian period, and organ-snatching at Alder Hey in the 1990s.

The decline of infections, starvation, heart attack, and stroke has allowed people to reach extreme old age--and ushered in disability, dementia, and degenerative disease, with profound consequences for the self and society. In chapters echoing Dante's nine circles of hell, Dr. Guy Brown explores these vital issues at various levels, from the cell, to the whole body, to society and how all this new medical technology affects the meaning of death. He tracks the seismic shifts in the causes and character of death that are rocking medicine and reveals how technological innovations, such as cloning and electronic interfaces, hint at new modes of "survival" after death.

By managing death issues in a planned purposeful manner, schools can reduce suicide and other harmful behavioral reactions substantially. Helping students to understand death and loss is part of assisting them to become resilient, proactive individuals. Age-appropriate curriculum materials are provided for educating children and teenagers on issues of health, emotional depression, grief, and death. Ways of counseling in schools following the death of a student, teacher, or staff member are explored in detail. Signs of depression and at-risk behavior among teenagers are described as part of a comprehensive approach to prevention, intervention, and postvention concerning death, violence, and self-destructive behavior. The authors share strategies that have proved effective in helping students to focus away from self-destructive, violent single-path solutions to developing positive social skills and alternative plans. Developing a comprehensive school plan in anticipation of a death occurrence and training staff in its implementation greatly reduces emotional stress.

A New York Times Bestseller A Wall Street Journal Bestseller A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice Shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year A New Statesman Book to Read From economist Anne Case and Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton, a groundbreaking account of how the flaws in capitalism are fatal for America's working class Deaths of despair from suicide, drug overdose, and alcoholism are rising dramatically in the United States, claiming hundreds of thousands of American lives. Anne Case and Angus Deaton explain the overwhelming surge in these deaths and shed light on the social and economic forces that are making life harder for the working class. As the college educated become healthier and wealthier, adults without a degree are literally dying from pain and despair. Case and Deaton tie the crisis to the weakening position of labor, the growing power of corporations, and a rapacious health-care sector that redistributes working-class wages into the pockets of the wealthy. This critically important book paints a troubling portrait of the American dream in decline, and provides solutions that can rein in capitalism's excesses and make it work for everyone.

An average of 1400 people call the South African Depression and Anxiety Suicide Helpline every day. And those are just the people who know it exists and are able to reach out for help, either for themselves or for a loved one.

Journalist Marion Scher has spent years speaking to people suffering from depression or some other form of mental illness and felt compelled to share some of these stories in Surfacing. Each chapter tells a different and very personal story, from a Springbok rugby player faced overnight with mental illness to a successful businessman who attempted suicide three times in one day. A new mother whose horrific real experiences didn’t match the Instagram photos of blissful motherhood she had expected, and a mother’s heartbreaking story of surviving the loss of her teenage daughter to suicide. The common thread that runs through the stories is how each person learnt to deal with their illness, conquer their personal mountains and go on to lead healthy, fulfilled lives – more than they’d ever hoped for.

Most stories of mental illness go untold, hidden away, for fear of the stigma that mental illness holds. Marion hopes this book will inspire you to reach out for help for yourself or to offer encouragement to people you know who are battling secret demons.

It is estimated that there are 60,000 excess Black American deaths annually compared with White Americans. Not only do Black babies die earlier than White babies, but, in recent years, there are reports that while life expectancy for Whites has improved, for Blacks there has been a leveling off, if not a reduction. These are among the issues detailed in this important guide to the major causes of Black illness and death. Divided into 27 chapters, this handbook provides a mosaic of the conditions, issues, and policies related to Black American health. The more than 40 contributing authors, drawn from institutions across the country, are the premier scholars in their respective fields. The scope and multidisciplinary nature of the handbook makes it invaluable for those concerned with contemporary Black society, clinical medicine, epidemiology, health care administration, medical sociology, nursing, nutrition, public health, social work, and public policy.

Suicide Prevention: A Holistic Approach contains the selected and edited papers that were presented during the congress Suicide, Disease, Disadvantage, A Holistic Approach, organized by the International Association for Suicide Prevention, which was held in June 1995, in Venice. Suicide prevention is still sadly neglected by governments and public health authorities, despite the fact that in several Western countries suicide has become the primary cause of death among younger age groups. The selected papers express the need for a holistic viewpoint in suicide management. The subjects range from parasuicide to the role of the media, from the special type of psychotherapeutic approach required to the most recent guidelines in pharmacological treatment, from a homage to the memory of Erwin Ringel to the presentation of specific national prevention schemes. The book will be of interest to public health workers, doctors, psychologists and social workers, as well as voluntary staff and their organizations, and to all those who make suicide prevention one of their primary interests.

This anthology of 16 chapters (see details below) is VOLUME 4 of the DEATH AND ANTI-DEATH series by Ria University Press. Most of the contributions consist of scholarship unique to this volume. Includes index. Although published in honor of Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), the chapters do NOT necessarily mention Simone de Beauvoir or Martin Heidegger. The 16 chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) ARE directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death - as follows: 1. Mechanism, Galileo's Animale And Heidegger's Gestell: Reflections On The Lifelessness Of Modern Science (by Giorgio Baruchello); 2. Simone De Beauvoir (by Debra Bergoffen); 3. Existentialism (by Steven Crowell); 4. Time Wounds All Heels (by William Grey); 5. The Ethical Importance Of Death (by Jenann Ismael); 6. The Poetics Of Death: Intimations And Illusions (by Lawrence Kimmel); 7. Death And Aesthetics (by Keith Lehrer); 8. Ageing And Existentialism: Simone De Beauvoir And The Limits Of Freedom (by Shannon M. Mussett); 9. Life Extension And Meaning (by Carol O'Brien); 10. Consciousness As Computation: A Defense Of Strong AI Based On Quantum-State Functionalism (by R. Michael Perry); 11. Reality Shifts: On The Death And Dying Of Dr. Timothy Leary (by Carol Sue Rosin); 12. Extraterrestrial Liberty And The Great Transmutation (by Charles Tandy); 13. A Time Travel Schema And Eight Types Of Time Travel (by Charles Tandy); 14. Boredom, Experimental Ethics, And Superlongevity (by Mark Walker); 15. Exopolitics: The Death Of Death (by Alfred Lambremont Webre); 16. Embryo Cloning: Current State Of The Medical Art And Its Far-Reaching Consequences ForMultiple Applications (by Panayiotis M. Zavos).

Perfect for school and public libraries, this is the only reference book to combine pop culture with science to uncover the mystery behind mummies and the mummification phenomena. Mortality and death have always fascinated humankind. Civilizations from all over the world have practiced mummification as a means of preserving life after death-a ritual which captures the imagination of scientists, artists, and laypeople alike. This comprehensive encyclopedia focuses on all aspects of mummies: their ancient and modern history; their scientific study; their occurrence around the world; the religious and cultural beliefs surrounding them; and their roles in literary and cinematic entertainment. Author and horror guru Matt Cardin brings together 130 original articles written by an international roster of leading scientists and scholars to examine the art, science, and religious rituals of mummification throughout history. Through a combination of factual articles and topical essays, this book reviews cultural beliefs about death; the afterlife; and the interment, entombment, and cremation of human corpses in places like Egypt, Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Additionally, the book covers the phenomenon of natural mummification where environmental conditions result in the spontaneous preservation of human and animal remains. Includes photographs, reproductions of ancient art, images from films and television, and a bibliography to encourage further research Features profiles of famous archaeologists and key figures who have been instrumental in bringing the mummy to modern consciousness Contains various timelines tracing the exploration of the Egyptian tombs, the birth of modern genetic and radiologic methods of study, the evolution of mummies in film and literature, and the history of mummies around the world Highlights key facts and interesting trivia related to mummies in helpful sidebars Offers an extensive bibliography to encourage further reading

Every living thing must die, but only human beings know it. This knowledge can bring to the living, anxiety and despair or new richness and meaning. This volume explores the problems and possibilities of coping with this universal experience.

Death is a constant in every society, but each of the world's cultures views the end of life differently. This book examines beliefs about dying, burial, and life after death held by peoples of wide ranging societies.

- This book integrates compassionate-based approaches with current theories and practices in loss, grief, and bereavement to provide readers with new insights and understanding on supporting patients, families, and healthcare workers facing the many challenges associated with loss and grief. - This book provides a holistic overview on the theoretical foundations of compassion, with in-depth discussions on the essential components of compassion training, as well as practical examples on how compassionate-based approaches can be applied in situations of loss, grief, and bereavement. - This book consolidates and presents the most innovative and cutting-edge research, interventions, and techniques on compassionate-based approaches from international leaders in the field to offer diverse perspectives on the applications of compassion based approaches to a variety of settings relevant to loss and grief. -This book draws upon current practices in compassion that are readily applicable to both clinicians and their clients alike, helping to develop greater capacity and insight into the loss and grief that we experience in our lives.

The official death rates from suicide vary considerably between countries in the world for which data are available. They range from 3 to 45 persons a year, per 100,000 of population. Historically, the higher rates of suicide are in the older age groups and in males. However, the general trend in the last twenty years has been for suicide increasing in the younger age groups (15-34) and in femah;s. It has been suggested that thi~ development is related to the phenomenon of attempted suicide, of which the rates in most industrialized countries have doubled and in some countries even tripled over the past two decades. The average rate of attempted suicide is now estimated to be around 200 per 100,000 for males and 350 for females. Almost two-thirds of these occur before the age of thirty. Although the majority of attempted suicide are not intended to be lethal, once a suicide attempt has been made, there is more likelihood of subsequent death by suicide. As many as ten percent of people who have made a previous unsuccessful attempt commit suicide at a later stage in their lives. rersons with increased likelihood to commit suicide are youngsters from disrupted families and from families with a history of suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, those who have failed at school, the unemployed and those suffering from depression.

The taboo on death is at last breaking down. There is far greater receptivity to informed discussion about death and dying. Dying with dignity is one major issue: euthanasia and the 'natural death movement' are the latest stages in a debate first stimulated by the hospice movement. Media treatment of the bereaved, especially after disasters, has attracted some adverse criticism, yet after the decline of traditional customs of mourning, people seek new models of acceptable behaviour at a time of death. The book argues that attitudes to death and to disposal are culturally formed and examines the factors in the formation and decline of such attitudes by analysing specific issues over four centuries of death.

The editors undertook this project to promote the International Conference on Death, Grief, and Bereavement in La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA. Throughout its history, the conference has attracted internationally known speakers. This book illustrates the quality of their presentations. Section One, "Professional Applications in End of Life Care," begins with Currier, Hammer, and Neimeyer's examination of the importance of the social network, including both religion and family, not just the individual, in working with those at the end of their lives. The authors analyse the impact of social support and its health implications. In Chapter 2, Parkes looks at the influence of child development on adult life and bereavement. Rather than simply showing how insecure child development affects loss as adults, he examines how insecure attachments in childhood can lead to extreme attachments to God, homes, territories, political leaders, and symbols and discusses interventions for these extreme attachments. Papadatou (Chapter 3) develops a model for professionals and caregivers who work with the dying. She suggests that those who give care to the dying also have multiple needs and also face suffering, examines the private world of professionals and what is healthy and what is unavoidable, and describes both functional and dysfunctional coping patterns used by professionals. Kobler (Chapter 4) uses case studies to explain how to develop and maintain relationships with children and their families in paediatric palliative care. She offers strategies for using rituals and ways to initiate and maintain relationships with children and their families. Thompson (Chapter 5) focuses on the effects of working in situations involving high levels of emotion and the stress that may result. He makes a strong case that such stress can do harm to individuals, groups, and whole organisations and offers a model for a more holistic approach that incorporates social and organisational strategies and practical ways to prevent and manage stress. Eves-Baine and colleagues (Chapter 6) examine the application of paediatric and adult-based principles to the newborn period. They discuss how to create the best situations for families when life-sustaining medical therapy has been withdrawn, how to support the family, and the ethical challenges that perinatal palliative care presents. The authors offer models for care through the journey of palliative and bereavement care. Section Two, "Facing End of Life and Its Care," begins with Gilbert's chapter presenting a strong argument that caregivers need to honour the multiple tracks that come with dying while maintaining a focus on the wishes of the dying person. He offers ways for the team to better meet the needs of the dying person. Koppleman (Chapter 8) follows the journey of a friend who faced death. It is a powerful story, told from the point of view of the dying in a scholarly fashion. Smith and Potter (Chapter 9) suggest that palliative care for the dying can be defined as offering "comfort care," both for those who are dying and for their loved ones. The authors present a model of the psycho-spiritual side of palliative care as a way of offering comfort to all those involved. Adams (Chapter 10) examines different methods of working with patients and families. It looks at the ways in which such work can be complicated by factors of geographic distance, differences in family reactions, differences in treatment plan concepts, and in meaning making. All of these factors may become stumbling blocks and may prevent the delivery of positive support. Pizzini (Chapter 11) looks at the experience of dying in prison from the perspective of inmates who are terminally ill, prison medical staff, and prison security staff. She discusses how to maintain dignity of the dying and a "good death" while in prison. McCord (Chapter 12) discusses attempts by hospice patients and others diagnosed with terminal illnesses to die either by their own hand or with physician assistance. She presents common risk factors, strategies to assess the degree of risk and possible plans for suicide and suicide postvention in the context of hospice. Section Three, "Cultural Considerations in End-of-Life Care" begins with The End of Life: Two Perspectives in which Robert G. Stevenson looks at two perspectives on the end of life that are not often examined in terms of their impact on the individual and his/her attitude toward this time. The two perspectives are that of adolescents, and that are shown in a military ceremony used in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Feu de Joie or Fire of Joy. In Chapter Fourteen, Janet McCord discusses suicide attempts by hospice patients and others diagnosed with terminal illnesses to die either by their own hand or with physician assistance. Connor's description of the need for hospice and palliative care around the world and the challenges of developing palliative care globally, and offers models that can be used around the world. Cox and Cox (Chapter 15) suggest ways to offer end-of-life care to Roman Catholics who do not fit the traditional model of hospice care and examine special needs, theology, and rituals. Cox and Sullivan (Chapter 16) offer suggestions on end-of-life care for American Indians, explaining cultural differences among American Indians and suggesting ways to improve care to a group that is generally neglected in hospice care. Smith (Chapter 17) looks at the cultural differences and understandings of Fundamentalist Christian views of a "good death" and the afterlife, ways to negotiate faith understandings that complicate end-of-life care, and ways to comfort individuals who may be marginalised because they do not share the theological views of the dying individual or key family members.

There have been five different settings that at one time or another have contained the dead body of Mustafa Kemal AtatA1/4rk, organizer of the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1923) and first president of the Republic of Turkey. Narrating the story of these different architectural constructions - the bedroom in DolmabahAe Palace, Istanbul, where he died; a temporary catafalque in this same palace; his funeral stage in Turkey's new capital Ankara; a temporary tomb in the Ankara Ethnographic Museum; and his permanent and monumental mausoleum in Ankara, known in Turkish as 'Anitkabir' (Memorial Tomb) - this book also describes and interprets the movement of AtatA1/4rk's body through the cities of Istanbul and Ankara and also the nation of Turkey to reach these destinations. It examines how each one of these locations - accidental, designed, temporary, permanent - has contributed in its own way to the construction of a Turkish national memory about AtatA1/4rk. Lastly, the two permanent constructions - the DolmabahAe Palace bedroom and Anitkabir - have changed in many ways since their first appearance in order to maintain this national memory. These changes are exposed to reveal a dynamic, rather than dull, impression of funerary architecture.

Challenging the widely held notion of a hospice as a building or a place, this book argues that it should instead be a philosophy of care. It proposes that the positive and negative impact that space can have in the pursuit of an ideal such as hospice care has previously been underestimated. Whether it be a purpose-built hospice, part of a hospital, a nursing home or within the home, a hospice is anchored by space and spatial practices, and these spatial practices are critical for a holistic approach to dying with dignity. Such spatial practices are understood as part of a broad architectural, social, conceptual and theoretical process. By linking health, social and architectural theory and establishing conceptual principles, this book defines 'hospice' as a philosophy that is underpinned by space and spatial practice. In putting forward the notion of 'hospice space', removed from the bounds of a specific building type, it suggests that hospice philosophy could and should be available within any setting of choice where the spatial practices support that philosophy, be it home, nursing home, hospice or 'hospice-friendly-hospitals'.

This book utilises a dynamic analysis of mortality to acknowledge shifts of emphasis in cultural and religious traditions. A central concern is the diversity of representations of death to be found within the varying cultural, religious, medical and legal systems of contemporary western societies. Since the construction of death mores has social implications, a major element of the book is an examination of the way in which groups and individuals employ specific representations of mortality in order to generate meaning and purpose for life and death.

Volume Three in the Death And Anti-Death Series By Ria University Press is in honor of Albert Einstein and Soren Kierkegaard. The chapters do not necessarily mention Einstein or Kierkegaard. The 17 chapters (by professional philosophers and other professional scholars) are directed to issues related to death, life extension, and anti-death. Most of the 400-plus pages consists of scholarship unique to this volume. Includes Index. ---CHAPTER ONE: Death And Life Support Systems: A Novel Cultural Exploration by Giorgio Baruchello. ---CHAPTER TWO: Recent Developments In The Ethics, Science, And Politics Of Life-Extension by Nick Bostrom. ---CHAPTER THREE: Life, And The Concept Of A Relativistic Field In Kant by Douglas Burnham. ---CHAPTER FOUR: Towards An Ethics Of Ontogeny by Anthony S. Dawber. ---CHAPTER FIVE: An Easy Death by Mikhail Epstein. ---CHAPTER SIX: Fear Of Death And Muddled Thinking -- It Is So Much Worse Than You Think by Robin Hanson. ---CHAPTER SEVEN: The Illusiveness Of Immortality by James J. Hughes. ---CHAPTER EIGHT: A Question Of Endings by Lawrence Kimmel. ---CHAPTER NINE: What Is Left After Death? by Jack Lee. ---CHAPTER TEN: Life Extension And Pleasure: Can The Prolongation Of (Self) Consciousness Deliver Greater Pleasure Or Happiness? by Carol O'Brien. ---CHAPTER ELEVEN: Raising The Dead Scientifically: Fedorov's Project In A Modern Form by R. Michael Perry. ---CHAPTER TWELVE: The Emulation Argument: A Modification Of Bostrom's Simulation Argument by Charles Tandy. ---CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Managing The Consequences Of Rapid Social Change by Natasha Vita-More. ---CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Eros And Thanatos -- The Establishment Of Individuality by Werner J. Wagner. ---CHAPTERFIFTEEN: Universal Superlongevity: Is It Inevitable And Is It Good? by Mark Walker. ---CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Return To A Pristine Ecosphere Via Molecular Nanotechnology by Sinclair T. Wang. ---CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Fedorov's Legacy: The Cosmist View Of Man's Role In The Universe by George M. Young.