Après le récit de la mort de son propre frère lorsqu'elle était enfant, la psychothérapeute Marie-Camille Carton de Wiart analyse divers témoignages de personnes ayant perdu un proche, recueillis au cours de sa pratique de spécialiste de l'accompagnement du deuil. Elle propose ensuite une démarche de méditation des textes bibliques destinée à accompagner ceux qui traversent cette épreuve.
Après avoir vécu une expérience au seuil de la mort, l’auteure, religieuse du Sacré Coeur de Jésus, consacre une partie de son temps à écouter les personnes sur le point de mourir et à les accompagner. Elle témoigne de ces rencontres, qui, au-delà de leur variété, expriment la possibilité d’accomplir son existence, dans cette période finale, à condition d’en accepter les lumières et les ténèbres.
Comment réagit une mère lorsqu’elle apprend que l’enfant qu’elle porte est atteint d’une grave maladie génétique ? Comment une femme portée par sa foi chrétienne peut-elle vivre le décès prématuré de cet enfant ?
Dans son témoignage poignant, Aude Lombard montre comment la présence du Christ dans sa vie - et dans celle son mari – l’a aidée et soutenue tout au long de cet événement si particulier.
Il s’agit à la fois d’un hommage à sa fille Juliette, porteuse d’une forme rare de trisomie et décédée au cours du huitième mois de grossesse, et d’un vibrant témoignage de foi, qui montre que, malgré l’épreuve, il est possible d’en tirer du positif, avec l’aide de Dieu.
Dès l’annonce du diagnostic, à la vingtième semaine de grossesse, de nombreuses questions existentielles et spirituelles sont venus assaillir l’esprit d’Aude. Cette nouvelle a fait l’effet « d’une déflagration intérieure, mêlée d’une sidération brumeuse », écrit-elle.
Mais au terme de ce parcours de deuil, qui aura été pour elle un véritable combat spirituel, Aude peut dire : "Je sais aujourd’hui que je peux passer par des épreuves sans être détruite, voire en étant fortifiée."
Son récit est un puissant encouragement pour tous ceux qui traversent des épreuves analogues.
[Présentation éditeur]
Burial rituals are symbolic activities that encourage the expression of grief as a positive way to heal while helping to confirm the reality of death. In the Caribbean, consisting of multiple distinct islands and histories of colonization, how individuals are buried on each island depends on the historical intermingling of the colonizer’s Christian religion and African (spiritual) rituals. Each island has distinct burial rituals that are a blending of Christian and African religious or spiritual cultures. This article highlights the distinct burial rituals on the Caribbean islands of Barbados, Haiti, and Trinidad and how its historical past has shaped present burial rituals and its significance to the African Caribbean grieving processes.
L'histoire est l'étude du rapport entre l'homme et le temps ou, plus précisément, le rapport entre les sociétés et la durée. Depuis plus de soixante ans, je suis donc professionnellement confronté au temps. Depuis plus longtemps, peut-être, parce que si l'histoire m'attirait dans ma jeunesse, c'est sans doute parce que déjà le temps m'obsédait : le temps de la vie, la vie hors du temps. Forcément, ce temps qu'étudient les historiens est un temps passé, qui a laissé des traces. Pour comprendre les vivants, l'historien fréquente inévitablement les morts.
[1er paragraphe]
Cet article présente, à l'aide de quelques positions célèbres, une vue d'ensemble de la réflexion sur le suicide dans l'histoire de la théologie chrétienne. Il abode notamment les positions d'Augustin, de Thomas d'Aquin, de Martin Luther et de Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Developing the ethics of palliative sedation, particularly in contrast to terminal sedation, requires consideration of the relation between body and soul and of the nature of death and dying. Christianly considered, it also requires attention to the human vocation to immortality and hence to the relation between medicine (as aid for the body) and discipline (as aid to the soul). Leaning on Augustine's rendering of the latter, this paper provides a larger anthropological and soteriological frame of reference for the ethics of palliative sedation, organized by way of nine briefly expounded theses. It argues that palliative sedation, like other elements of medicine, is appropriate where, and only where, it properly orders care for the body to the requirements of care for the soul.
La maitresse annonce aux élèves que Nicole est morte, elle a été renversée par un camion. Voyant un dessin de Nicole accroché au mur de l'école, Rémi se souvient...
Ce livre aborde la mort et évoque les rites et coutumes propres à d'autres croyances.
Quel rôle joue exactement dans la foi chrétienne la croyance en une existence qui suit la vie présente ? Quelle importance et quelle valeur faut-il lui accorder ? Occupe-t-elle une place centrale, essentielle, déterminante ? Ou, au contraire, s'agit-il d'un élément périphérique, secondaire, voire superflu ?
[Début de l'article]
This special issue of Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics takes up the question of palliative sedation as a source of potential concern or controversy among Christian clinicians and thinkers. Christianity affirms a duty to relieve unnecessary suffering yet also proscribes euthanasia. Accordingly, the question arises as to whether it is ever morally permissible to render dying patients unconscious in order to relieve their suffering. If so, under what conditions? Is this practice genuinely morally distinguishable from euthanasia? Can one ever aim directly at making a dying person unconscious, or is it only permissible to tolerate unconsciousness as an unintended side effect of treating specific symptoms? What role does the rule of double effect play in making such decisions? Does spiritual or psychological suffering ever justify sedation to unconsciousness? What are the theological and spiritual aspects of such care? This introduction describes how the authors in this special issue wrestle with such questions and shows how each essay relates to the author's individual position on palliative sedation, as developed in greater detail within his contribution.
BACKGROUND: Patients' religious and spiritual values impact their goals and perception of illness, especially at the end of life (EOL). According to the Joint Commission, identifying spiritual beliefs may improve cultural competency and patient-centered care. However, clinicians may be uncomfortable discussing spirituality and unaware of basic religious teachings.
OBJECTIVES: To assess clinician understanding and knowledge of key Christian, Jewish, and Islamic teachings around EOL care before and after a one-hour educational intervention through video podcast.
DESIGN: After literature review and consultation with religious leaders, a pre- and post-test (10 questions per religion plus demographic questions) to assess knowledge of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic teachings and an educational video podcast were developed. The pretest was administered to healthcare providers, followed by a one-hour educational intervention through a video podcast. Next, a post-test was administered.
SUBJECTS: Seventy-three healthcare providers participated in this study.
MEASUREMENTS: Differences between pretest and post-test scores were analyzed employing paired t-test tests using SPSS software.
RESULTS: The median score on the pretest was Christian: 6 [2–9], Jewish: 6 [4–10], and Islamic: 6 [2–8]. After the educational intervention, the median Christian, Jewish, and Islamic scores improved to 8 [4–10], 9 [6–10], and 10 [3–10], respectively (p < 0.0001). Additionally, the total pretest median score improved from 17 [10–24] to 27 [16–30].
CONCLUSIONS: A one-hour educational intervention through video podcast significantly improved understanding of Christian, Jewish, and Islamic teachings around EOL care. The video podcast enabled easy distribution of the educational session to multiple facilities and providers. Additional research is needed to determine the longitudinal outcomes and impact on patient outcomes of this intervention.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to examine the religious/spiritual beliefs of followers of the five major world religions about frequently encountered medical situations at the end of life (EoL).
METHOD: This was a systematic review of observational studies on the religious aspects of commonly encountered EoL situations. The databases used for retrieving studies were: Ovid MEDLINE In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid PsycINFO, Ovid Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Ovid Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and Scopus. Observational studies, including surveys from healthcare providers or the general population, and case studies were included for review. Articles written from a purely theoretical or philosophical perspective were excluded.
RESULTS: Our search strategy generated 968 references, 40 of which were included for review, while 5 studies were added from reference lists. Whenever possible, we organized the results into five categories that would be clinically meaningful for palliative care practices at the EoL: advanced directives, euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, physical requirements (artificial nutrition, hydration, and pain management), autopsy practices, and other EoL religious considerations. A wide degree of heterogeneity was observed within religions, depending on the country of origin, level of education, and degree of intrinsic religiosity.
SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Our review describes the religious practices pertaining to major EoL issues and explains the variations in EoL decision making by clinicians and patients based on their religious teachings and beliefs. Prospective studies with validated tools for religiosity should be performed in the future to assess the impact of religion on EoL care.