Tag: organ donation

EOLPodcast

Ep. 545 Organ Donation and Extraordinary Conversations at the End of Life with Toby Campbell MD

kwyattmd

Learn about organ donation at the end of life and how to have conversations about it and other difficult topics.

My guest Dr. Toby Campbell is a Professor of Medicine, Thoracic Oncologist, and Palliative Care Physician who is also a writer and podcaster. He is currently writing A Doctor’s Guide to Hard Conversations and created the Extraordinary Conversations Podcast, which explores the pivotal discussions that arise around organ donation and transplantation–and event at the end of one life that helps prolong another life. He discusses these challenging conversations and how they might inform other situations when we need to talk about a difficult subject. Learn more at the website:

extraordinaryconversationspodcast.com

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This episode includes:

  • How Toby’s desire to practice “slow medicine” led to his interest in oncology and palliative care
  • Challenges faced by families in organ donation situations
  • Recognizing that some healthcare decisions are more for the future than for the present moment
  • How the dying process differs when organs are being donated
  • Rituals that might occur in the setting of organ donation
  • Why our feelings about organ donation need to be discussed as part of our end-of-life planning
  • How organ donation can end up helping donor families with their grief
  • Tips for having difficult conversations including building rapport, responding to emotion, eliciting values and priorities

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my latest donor Joy Fletcher. And thanks to Cathy Duke for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 358 STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers with Mary Roach

kwyattmd

Find out what happens when a body is donated to science and how cadavers have benefitted the living through various types of research.

My guest Mary Roach is the author of multiple New York Times bestsellers including STIFF: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which has sold over 1 million copies and been translated into 17 different languages. She’ll tell us why she wrote this book, how she did the research for it and what she learned from this project. Her stories range from macabre to heartbreaking in this look at the “other side” of death that we rarely explore: how the deceased benefit the living. Learn more about Mary’s work at her website:

www.maryroach.net

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This episode includes:

  • What drew Mary to write about cadavers
  • The surprising fact that this book sold over 1 million copies when it was first published in 2003 in our death-phobic society
  • What it was like to do research for this book
  • Which experiences were most challenging for Mary
  • How cadaver researchers cope with the trauma of witnessing human carnage
  • Why cadavers are our superheroes and the contributions they have made to the betterment of humankind
  • A touching ceremony Mary witnessed at the UCSF gross anatomy lab
  • What is a “beating heart” cadaver
  • How cadaver research has changed over the years

Links mentioned in this episode:

  • Order All the Flowers of the Mountain by Christina Holbrook here (and thank you!)

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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, and to those who have bought me a coffee and made a donation through Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference.