Dame Cicely Saunders.
Illustration: SAINT CHRISTOPHER’S HOSPICE
As the debate rages on about killing those with Terminal Illnesses, this Article may well be of interest to Readers. With The House of Lords set to discuss this issue, Readers may well feel like writing to the House of Lords and opposing this current, modern-day, belief in killing those who are very ill.
To register your opposition to killing those with Terminal Illnesses, send your request for Peers to oppose this
Assisted Suicide Bill by filling in the Form
Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia, the free encyclopædia,
unless stated otherwise.
Dame Cicely Mary Strode Saunders (22 June 1918 – 14 July 2005) was an English nurse, social worker, physician and writer.
She is noted for her work in terminal care research and her role in the birth of the hospice movement, emphasising the importance of palliative care in modern medicine, and opposing the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.
To make a small donation
to Saint Christopher’s Hospice,
fill in the form
Saunders was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, to Philip Gordon Saunders, a chartered surveyor and landowner, and to Mary Christian Knight.[1] She had two younger brothers, John Frederick Stacey Saunders and Christopher Gordon Strode Saunders.[3]
After attending Roedean School (1932–1937), Saunders began studying politics, philosophy, and economics at Saint Anne’s College, Oxford, in 1938.
During the War, she decided to become a nurse and trained at Nightingale School of Nursing based at Saint Thomas’s Hospital from 1940 to 1944.[4][5]
Returning to Saint Anne’s College after a back injury in 1944, she took a B.A. in 1945, qualifying as a medical social worker in 1947 and eventually trained as a doctor at Saint Thomas’s Hospital Medical School (now merged to form King’s College London GKT School of Medical Education) and qualified MBBS in 1957.[4]
The Web-Site of Saint Christopher’s Hospice can be found
In 1948, Saunders fell in love with a patient, Ela Majer “David” Tasma, a Polish-Jewish refugee who, having escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto, worked as a waiter; he was dying of cancer.
He bequeathed her £500 (equivalent to £23,000 in 2023)[6] to be “a window in your home”.[7] This donation, which helped germinate the idea that would become Saint Christopher’s Hospice, Sydenham, London, is memorialised with a plain sheet of glass at the Hospice’s entrance.
While training for social work, she holidayed with some Christians and was converted to Christianity.[8] In the Late-1940s, Saunders began working part-time at Saint Luke’s Home for the Dying Poor, in Bayswater, London, and it was partly this which, in 1951, led her to begin studying to become a physician.
Hospice.
A year later, she began working at Saint Joseph’s Hospice, a Catholic establishment in Hackney, East London, where she would remain for seven years, researching pain control.
There she met a second Pole, Antoni Michniewicz, a patient with whom she fell in love. His death, in 1960, coincided with the death of Saunders’s father in 1961, and another friend, and put her into what she later called a state of “pathological grieving”.[8]
But she had already decided to set up her own Hospice, serving cancer patients, and said that Michniewicz’s death had shown her that “as the body becomes weaker, so the Spirit becomes stronger”.[9]
Saunders said that after eleven years of thinking about the project, she had drawn up a comprehensive plan and sought finance after reading
Psalm 37:
“Commit thy way unto the Lord;
trust also in Him;
and He shall bring it to pass.”
She succeeded in engaging the support of Dame Albertine Winner, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Ministry of Health at the time.
Later, Dame Albertine Winner served as Chairwomen of Saint Christopher’s Hospice.
In 1965, Cicely Saunders was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E.).
In 1967, Saint Christopher’s Hospice, the World’s first purpose-built Hospice, was established.[8] The Hospice was Founded on the principles of combining teaching and clinical research, expert pain and symptom relief with holistic care to meet the physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs of its patients and those of their family and friends.[8]
Saint Christopher’s Hospice was developed based on a care philosophy that: “You matter, because you are you. You matter to the last moment of your life”,[10] an approach requiring specialist care which led to a new medical specialty – palliative care – that could be adapted to different situations.
Research shows that Saint Christopher’s was quite different from hospitals in the 1960s, and was designed and managed as a “Home From Home” where the physical environment was important.[11]
It was a place where patients could garden, write, talk – and get their hair done. There was always, Saunders would emphasise, so much more to be done, and she worked in this spirit as its Medical Director from 1967, and then, from 1985, as its Chairwoman, a Post she occupied until 2000 when she became President.[12]
She was, however, reluctant for Saint Christopher’s to admit patients with AIDS in the years after the syndrome first emerged.
In a Letter to the Secretary of State for Social Services, she stated: “We have strong reservations about the use of our existing In-Patient facilities for AIDS patients”, explaining in a memorandum to the Select Committee on Social Services: “A Hospice Ward is a very personal place, welcoming families, with their children, to be with the dying family member. Among them, I believe, there would be many who would extremely fearful of doing this if they knew AIDS patients were being admitted. However irrational, this fear is a very real matter, and would be an added burden on those facing the loss of loved ones.”[13]
Saunders was an Anglican. In 1977, she was awarded an Honorary Lambeth Doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury. She later was made a Dame of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (awarded by the Pope)[14]
Saunders was an Anglican. In 1977, she was awarded an Honorary Lambeth Doctorate by the Archbishop of Canterbury. She later was made a Dame of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (awarded by the Pope)[14]
Pontifical Equestrian Order
of Saint Gregory the Great.
Beschreibung: Gregoriusorden 1831
Stifter: Papst Gregor XVI.
Abbildung aus:
Ordensbuch Kölner Diözesan-
und Dombibliothek
Lizenz: {{GNU FDL}}
This File is licensed under the
Share Alike 3.0 Unported licence.
This File: 18 May 2006.
User: CommonismNow
Source: German Wikipedia.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great (Latin: Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; Italian: Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as
Pope.[1] The Order is one of the five Orders of Knighthood
of The Holy See. The honour is bestowed upon Catholic men and women (and certain notable Non-Catholics)[2] in recognition of their personal service to The Holy See and to The Catholic Church, through their unusual labours, their support of The Holy See, and the examples they set in their communities and their Countries.
In 1981, she was awarded the Templeton Prize, the World’s highest-value annual prize awarded to an individual.
In 1989, she was appointed to the Order of Merit (OM).
In 2001, she received the World’s largest humanitarian award, the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize, on behalf of Saint Christopher’s Hospice.
Saunders was one of the subjects of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s book: “Courage: Eight Portraits”.[16]
She was:
A Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN);
A Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).
Saint Christopher’s Hospice includes an Arts Team that provides art therapy, music therapy, drama therapy and community arts.
The work of the Arts Team is reflected in two publications:
“End of Life Care: A Guide for Therapists, Artists and Arts Therapists”;
and
“The Creative Arts in Palliative Care”.[17][18]
Marriage.
In 1963, three years after the death of Michniewicz, Saunders became familiar with the paintings of Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, a Polish émigré and Professor with a Degree in Fine Art.
Marriage.
In 1963, three years after the death of Michniewicz, Saunders became familiar with the paintings of Marian Bohusz-Szyszko, a Polish émigré and Professor with a Degree in Fine Art.
They met and became friends, and she became a Patron of his art. A substantial amount of his work is hung at Saint Christopher’s Hospice.
Bohusz-Szyszko had a long-estranged wife in Poland, whom he supported, and was a devout Roman Catholic.
Bohusz-Szyszko had a long-estranged wife in Poland, whom he supported, and was a devout Roman Catholic.
In 1980, five years after the death of his wife, he married Saunders. She was sixty-one and he was seventy-nine.
Bohusz-Szyszko died in 1995, at the age of ninety-four, spending his last days at Saint Christopher’s Hospice.[8]
Charitable Organisation.
In 2002, Saunders Co-Founded a new Charitable Organisation, “Cicely Saunders International”, of which she was the Founding Trustee and President.[5]
Charitable Organisation.
In 2002, Saunders Co-Founded a new Charitable Organisation, “Cicely Saunders International”, of which she was the Founding Trustee and President.[5]
The Charity’s mission is to promote research to improve the care and treatment of all patients with progressive illness and to make high-quality palliative care available to everyone who needs it – Hospice, Hospital, or, Home.
The Charity has Co-Created the World’s first purpose-built Institute of Palliative Care – “The Cicely Saunders Institute”, and supported research to improve the management of symptoms such as breathlessness,[19] action to more closely meet patient and family choice in Palliative Care and better support for older people.
Cicely Saunder’s obituary in the Royal College of Physicians of London’s Munk’s Roll Collection contains further information about her work with this Organisation.[20]
Medical Ethics.
Saunders was instrumental in the history of U.K. Medical Ethics. She was an advisor to Andrew Mephem, whose report led the Reverend Edward Shotter to set up the London Medical Group (LMG), a forerunner of the Society for the Study of Medical Ethics, later the Institute of Medical Ethics.
Medical Ethics.
Saunders was instrumental in the history of U.K. Medical Ethics. She was an advisor to Andrew Mephem, whose report led the Reverend Edward Shotter to set up the London Medical Group (LMG), a forerunner of the Society for the Study of Medical Ethics, later the Institute of Medical Ethics.
She gave one of the first London Medical Group (LMG) lectures on the subject of pain, developing the talk into: “The Nature and Management of Terminal Pain” by 1972.[21]
This went on to be one of the most often-repeated and requested lectures of the LMG and other such Medical Groups that sprung up around Great Britain, where it was often given as their inaugural lecture.[21]
This went on to be one of the most often-repeated and requested lectures of the LMG and other such Medical Groups that sprung up around Great Britain, where it was often given as their inaugural lecture.[21]
Her talk on the care of the dying patient was printed by the LMG in its series “Documentation in Medical Ethics”, a forerunner of the “Journal of Medical Ethics”.[22]
She strongly opposed Voluntary Euthanasia.
She strongly opposed Voluntary Euthanasia.
This was partly because of her Christian Faith, but she also argued that it is never needed, because effective pain control is always possible.
She did, however, accept that both sides in the euthanasia debate were against unnecessary pain and the loss of personal dignity.[8]
Total Pain.
Saunders introduced the idea of "total pain", which included physical, emotional, social, and spiritual distress.[23][24][25][26][27]
Death.
Saunders developed breast cancer but still continued to work. She died aged eighty-seven in 2005 at Saint Christopher’s Hospice.[28]
Biographies.
She is the subject of a biography: “Cicely Saunders: A Life And Legacy”, published in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of her birth, and of the biographical novel “Di cosa è fatta la speranza. Il romanzo di Cicely Saunders” by Emmanuel Exitu, published in Italy by Bompiani editore.
Honours.
Total Pain.
Saunders introduced the idea of "total pain", which included physical, emotional, social, and spiritual distress.[23][24][25][26][27]
Death.
Saunders developed breast cancer but still continued to work. She died aged eighty-seven in 2005 at Saint Christopher’s Hospice.[28]
Biographies.
She is the subject of a biography: “Cicely Saunders: A Life And Legacy”, published in 2018 to mark the 100th anniversary of her birth, and of the biographical novel “Di cosa è fatta la speranza. Il romanzo di Cicely Saunders” by Emmanuel Exitu, published in Italy by Bompiani editore.
Honours.
Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS).
Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians (FRCP).
Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN).
Dame of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great (awarded by the Pope)[12].
See also Thelma Bates, the Oncologist who established Britain’s first Hospital-based palliative care service and who worked with Saunders.
The following Text and Illustration is from
Through her single-minded vision, and the clinical practice and dissemination of her work through Saint Christopher’s teaching and outreach, Dame Cicely revolutionised the way in which society cares for the ill, the dying and the bereaved.
Dame Cicely recognised the inadequacy of the care of the dying that was offered in Hospitals. So often, patients and families were told that “there was nothing more that could be done”, a statement that Cicely refused to accept.
Throughout her time at Saint Christopher’s, her watchword was: “There is so much more to be done.”
Dame Cicely had initially thought of creating an Anglican Religious Community, but broadened her vision so that Saint Christopher’s became a place that welcomed Staff and Patients.
However, Cicely’s strong Christian Faith was a fundamental factor in her vision to establish her own Home for the dying and remained an anchor throughout her life.
Dame Cicely had initially thought of creating an Anglican Religious Community, but broadened her vision so that Saint Christopher’s became a place that welcomed Staff and Patients.
However, Cicely’s strong Christian Faith was a fundamental factor in her vision to establish her own Home for the dying and remained an anchor throughout her life.
4.png)
