Born at the end of World War One into a prosperous London family, Cicely Saunders struggled at school before gaining entry to Oxford University to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. As World War Two gained momentum, she quit academic study to train as a nurse, thereby igniting her lifelong interest in caring for others. Following a back injury, she became a medical social worker, and then in her late 30s, qualified as a physician. By now her focus was on a hugely neglected area of modern health services: the care of the dying. When she opened the world's first modern hospice in 1967 a quiet revolution got underway. Education, research, and clinical practice were combined in a model of 'total care' for terminally ill patients and their families that quickly had a massive impact. In Cicely Saunders: A Life and Legacy, David Clark draws on interviews, correspondence, and the publications of Cicely Saunders to tell the remarkable story of how she pursued her goals through the complexity of her personal life, the skepticism of others, and the pervasive influence of her religious faith. When she died in 2005, her legacy was firmly established in the growing field of hospice and palliative care, which had now gained global recognition.

Auteur

Professor David Clark is the Wellcome Trust Investigator at the University of Glasgow, School of Interdisciplinary Studies in Dumfries, Scotland.

Contenu

Prologue - whys and wherefores 1. The Saunders' of Hadley Hurst (1918-38) · Beginnings · Schooldays · Philip Gordon Saunders · Mary Christian Knight · Life with the Saunders · Emerging to womanhood 2. Social science, nursing, social work (1938 - 1951) · The first Oxford interlude · Nurse training in war time · Second Oxford interlude · The evangelical almoner · David Tasma · Aftermath 3. Becoming a doctor (1951 - 1957) · The influence of Norman Barrett · Sancte et Sapienter · Patients and their worlds · Evangelical circles · Drawing together her experience · Practical applications 4. Learning the craft and crafting the vision (1957 - 1967) · A decade of change · At St Joseph's · 1960-1 - Antoni Michniewicz, Mrs G., Gordon Saunders · Total pain · Clinical studies · Marian Bohusz-Szyszko · Writing, writing, writing · Religious considerations and the ambition for St Christopher's · Making it happen · Growing networks · The hospice opens its doors 5. The expansive years of hospice in the world (1967 - 1985) · The hospice movement · St Christopher's gets going · Friends, family and marriage · Clinical themes and issues · The maturing of ideas · A global influence 6. 'An exacting joy': reflection, illness, loss and death (1985 - 2005) · Good times and bad · With Marian · The developing field · Last years at the hospice · Personal rewards · Radio, television, interviews · Photographs, portraits and sculptures · Revisiting the past: David, Antoni and Marian · Belief and the 'cantus firmus' · Illness and death Epilogue - making sense of Cicely Saunders