Religious Understandings of a Good Death in Hospice Palliative Care

350 Pages·2012·18.071 MB·English

by  Coward, Harold G., Stajduhar, Kelli I

Religious
Understandings
of a
Good Death
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Religious Understandings
of a Good Death in
Hospice Palliative Care
SUNY series in Religious Studies
—————
Harold Coward, editor
Religious Understandings
of a Good Death in
Hospice Palliative Care
Edited by
Harold Coward
and
Kelli I. Stajduhar
Cover art by Susan Coward
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2012 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system
or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic,
magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior
permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production by Eileen Meehan
Marketing by Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Religious understandings of a good death in hospice palliative care / edited by
Harold Coward and Kelli I. Stajduhar.
p. cm. — (SUNY series in religious studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-4273-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Terminal care—Religious aspects. I. Coward, Harold G. II. Stajduhar,
Kelli I.
R726.8.R437 2012
362.17'5—dc23 2011032337
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Harold Coward and Kelli I. Stajduhar
Part I
Religious Understandings of a Good Death
1 Cicely Saunders and the Development of Hospice
Palliative Care 11
Michael Wright and David Clark
2 “Like a Ripe Fruit Separating Effortlessly from Its Vine”
Religious Understandings of a Good Death: Hinduism 29
Anantanand Rambachan
3 Welcoming an Old Friend: Buddhist Perspectives on
Good Death 51
Anne Bruce
4 Muslim Perspectives on a Good Death in Hospice and
End-of-Life Care 77
Earle Waugh
5 Tradition and Change in Jewish Ideals Regarding a
“Good” Death 99
Norman Ravvin
vi Contents
6 Dying Well in Christianity 123
Janet Soskice
7 Chinese Religions and Hospice Care 145
Edwin C. Hui and Danny C. Leung
Part II
Case Studies
8 Buddhist Hospice Care in Thailand 167
Robert Florida and Pinit Ratanakul
9 The Ugandan Way of Living and Dying 191
Michael L. Hadley and Godfrey Agupio
10 Punjabi Extended Family Hospice Care 211
Kamala Elizabeth Nayar
11 Seeking Physical, Cultural, Ethical, and Spiritual
“Safe Space” for a Good Death: The Experience of
Indigenous Peoples in Accessing Hospice Care 231
Joseph M. Kaufert, Rhonda Wiebe, Margaret Lavallee,
Patricia A. Kaufert
12 Caring for Children in Hospice and Palliative Care:
The Spiritual/Religious Dimension 257
Betty Davies and Thomas Attig
13 Interfaith Chaplaincy in Hospice Palliative Care 277
Kelli I. Stajduhar and Coby Tschanz
Conclusion 297
Harold Coward and Kelli I. Stajduhar
Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations 317
Lee Blanding
Contributors 327
Index 333
Acknowledgments
This book is a joint project of the Centre for Studies in Religion and
Society and the Centre on Aging at the University of Victoria, Canada.
Authors were recruited and then met to present first drafts of their chap-
ters at a seminar hosted by the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society
in November 2009. Faculty, graduate students, and hospice palliative care
clinicians (Dr. Michael Downing and Ms. Kathy Bodell) in Victoria
and Vancouver attended and helped with the critique of draft chapters.
Authors then revised their chapter for presentation in this volume.
Funding for this research and book project was provided by the
Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Ottawa. Special thanks are due
to June Thomson for her assistance with library research and to Leslie
Kenny (administrator) and Rina Langford-Kimmett (secretary) of the Cen-
tre for Studies in Religion and Society for organizing the project meeting
and preparing the manuscript for publication. The editors are grateful to
Michael Hadley for editing help he provided with one of the chapters. At
the Centre on Aging Shelly Waskiewich gave valuable assistance in prepar-
ing and submitting our grant application. We also thank Julie Lachance,
senior policy analyst at Health Canada, Ottawa, for her encouragement
and critical advice throughout the research and writing process.
The drawing on the cover of the book is by Susan Coward, who,
in addition to being Harold Coward’s daughter, is an artist, a longtime
hospice volunteer, and now a hospice nurse. She is to be thanked for
having sparked Harold’s interest in hospice palliative care, which has
resulted in this book.
Harold Coward and Kelli I. Stajduhar
vii

Introduction
Harold Coward
Kelli I. Stajduhar
In the 1960s in London, England, Cicely Saunders introduced a new way
of treating the terminally ill, which she called “hospice care.” Saunders,
a trained nurse, social worker, and medical doctor, held that humans
should be able to die with dignity and at peace. This viewpoint originated
from her medical experience as well as her religious commitment as a
Christian. The religious basis of hospice care permeates Saunders’s whole
approach to the terminally ill, and her vision resulted in the founding of
St. Christopher’s Hospice in 1967 in London. There, Saunders developed
a program of care for the dying based on three key principles: pain
control; a family or community environment; and an engagement with
the dying person’s most deeply rooted spirituality. Although the hospice
movement began in a Christian context, it was clear from the start that
there was to be no “forcing of religion,” and openness to all religious
traditions was encouraged. While the first two of Saunders’s principles
have been well studied, the third, engagement with a person’s most deeply
rooted spirituality or religion, has not been. Thus, the focus of this book
is on the religious understandings of a “good death” in hospice care.
Leading scholars of the major religious traditions will formulate their own
understanding of a good death, specifically with regard to the “spiritual
pain” that often parallels and accompanies “physical pain” in hospice care.
These understandings are formulated in terms accessible to people from
different intellectual, social, and religious traditions. To ensure that our
answers go beyond the theoretical level, a series of real-life case studies
from different cultures, religions, and medical challenges are included.
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