Death and Dying in Childhood: A Silenced Phenomenon

Sydney Campbell, PhD Candidate, Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and Collaborative Specialization in Bioethics, University of Toronto

About This Seminar:

In paediatric settings, hope is a commonly seen as a fundamental aspect of high quality care. Additionally, children are often presumed to be individuals that lack competence and require protection as a result of their vulnerabilities. As a result, the concept of hope is arguably positioned to be at odds with dialogue around death and dying in childhood, thereby fostering and contributing to an engrained phenomenon of silence in paediatric care and paediatric research associated with death and dying. In this seminar, we will explore this phenomenon and the related implications more fully and promote discussions on this topic.