Times Newspapers

My normal approach of searching for ‘palliative care’ and ‘end of life care’ did not work
with Times Newspapers; results were nil in each case. So I searched for palliative and end of
life (no care) and got results; perhaps Times readers can only cope with one word at a time.
The coverage in the Times and Sunday Times is mostly around two issues, assisted dying and
inequalities in access across the NHS. A curiosity is that many of the news items focus on
Scotland rather than national debates; this is pleasing, because you get interesting pointers
that are not so commonplace. My overall view is that Times newspapers covers a wider
range of issues than the Telegraph and well.
Anyway, my picks from the Times websites (I’ve missed out several articles connected with
the Times support for Help the Hospices fundraising, although this would have given Times
readers a lot of interesting understanding about end of life care).
A Scottish report from Audit Scotland: palliative care as a postcode lottery. While this is not
news to insider, it’s good to see this information seeping out.
Davidson, L. (2008) Palliative care services are 'too skewed' Timesonline.co.uk 21stAugust
2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4583712.ece
This 2004 item follows the Scottish 2008 item and is about the Select Committee Report on
palliative care. It says more or less the same thing, that there is a postcode lottery in
palliative care.
Hawkes, N. (2004) MPs urge changes in palliative care. Timesonline.co.uk. 23rd July 2004.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article460455.ece
A good general article on palliative care issues, is based around a BBC sruvey that showed
that cancer patients have it better than people with heart disease.
Wark, P. (2008) How to have a good death. Timesonline.co.uk. 27th March 2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/features/article695832.ece
A rant by Karol Sikora saying we’d all be much better off if we had treatment for cancer in
the private sector, and that the NHS is never going to work. He makes clear he works for a
private sector healhtcare company. I presume he wasn’t responsible for the title. It’s also
accompanied by Google ads for private health care. This is done automatically by Google if
newspapers sign up for it; they have a robot which decides what ads they have are most
relevant.
Sikora, K. (2008) Swallow this and you’ll get a better NHS. Tmesonline.co.uk. 31st Audgust
2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4641109.ec
e
An unusual topic to be covered in a newspaper is the hydration issue (is not hydrating
patients killing them or not?), here tied to the Mental Capacity Act 2005:
McDonough, M. (2007) Medication everywhere but not a drop to drink. Timesonline.co.uk.
28th September 2007.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article2547198.ec
e
As with all newspapers, the right to assisted dying comes up, but in this restrained news item
on an ‘intelligent debate’ in the Scottish Parliament, the issues are well described, and the
piece ends up arguing that an appropriate law cannot be drafted. It is hung on the well-
known MSP, Margo MacDonald, who has longstanding Parkinson’s Disease and would like
to right to decide to die in the future. There is also a later follow-up news item on
MacDonald visiting ‘suicide clinics’ and an interview; obviously she had good public
relations on this issue, because the guy who introduced the debate barely got a mention.
McAlpine, J. (2008) Margo MacDonald and the right to die. Timesonline.co.uk (Sunday
Times) 30th March 2008. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/article3647357.ece
Gordon, T. (2008) MacDonald to visit suicide clinics. Timesonline.co.uk. 13th April 2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3736375.ece
Bowditch, G. (2008) Margo MacDonald: Why I am looking for a place to die.
Timesonline.co.uk. 13th April 2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article3735158.ece
Also on assisted dying, the Times offers a good article by Dr John Sentamu, now Archbishop
of York, about getting good care rather than choosing death.
Sentamu, J. (2006) To choose death, instead of love and care, is a terrible mistake.
Timesonline.co.uk. 7th October 2006.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article663854.ece
A selection of letters, including those from religious leaders, on the Assisted Dying Bill:
Ethical dilemma of the assisted dying Bill. Timesonline.co.uk. 12th May 2006.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article716130.ece
Also, the Bishop of Durham has an article, commenting on a David Aaronovitch column
supporting the Bill, and there are also readers’ comments:
Wright, T. (2008) Euthanasia - a murky moral world. Timesonline.co.uk. 9th April 2008.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article3669714.ec
e More letters commenting at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article3684000.ece and
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article721324.ece
Good report of the 2006 House of Lords debate: Charter, D. (2006) The religious and the
righteous unite in a moral crusade. Timesonline.co.uk. 13th May 2006.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article717299.ece
In a book review on the issue, a former chair of the of the Royal College of Physicians
Committee on Ethical Issues supports assisted dying:
Tallis, R. (2008) Assisted suicide on trial. Timesonline.co.uk. 24th January 2007.
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/tls_selections/socia
l_studies/article2305895.ece
And rather out of the ordinary, a feature on the poet Dannie Abse’s bereavement being
helped by writing:
Naish, J. (2008) Poet Dannie Abse on how writing helped him through grief.
Timesonline.co.uk. 16th August 2008.
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article4538690.ec
e