Marie Curie response to Royal College of Physicians' Talking About Dying report

Responding to the Royal College of Physicians' report 'Talking About Dying: How to begin honest conversations about what lies ahead', Marie Curie's Executive Medical Director Dr Grahame Tosh, said:

"This is an excellent report. It deals with the challenges we face honestly and provides useful and practical ways of improving communication and therefore care provided by doctors.

"Death is still a taboo in society and it is easy for doctors to collude by avoiding discussing it. This is morally and ethically wrong. There is nothing suggested in this report which cannot be delivered by doctors on a day to day basis. It is important that we hone our communication skills but more important is that we challenge our culture and make it a normal part of care to accept that death will occur. We can do so even in the face of uncertainty, planning treatment hoping for recovery and also, in parallel, planning for care if the treatment doesn’t produce desired result.

"Unless we lead the way with open and compassionate conversations we will fail to provide good care and perpetuate the culture that focuses on the condition more than the person."