‘Natural Death’ in Care Homes: The Line between Non-intervention and Neglect

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Care homes cater for about 30% of all deaths in England. However, sociological studies of end-of-life care (EOLC) practice in English care homes are limited, with the most recent ones appearing about 20 years ago (Sidell, Katz and Komaromy, 1997; Komaromy, 2005). To investigate current EOLC practice, this paper draws on participant observation and interviewing of care home staff in five nursing and residential care homes in the South-West of England between May 2019 and March 2020. The paper argues that care home staff manage residents’ dying to achieve what they consider a ‘natural’, and thus ‘good’, death on the care home’s premises. Crucially, to let residents die ‘naturally’, staff need to navigate the boundary between non-intervention and neglect that regulates their provision of healthcare, nutrition, and hydration to residents. The paper challenges the assumption that residents’ dying is a mere biological, and thus ‘natural’, process, and interrogates what kinds of deaths are being supported in care homes, thus contributing to the sociology of health and illness.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jul 2024
EventBritish Society of Gerontology (BSG) 53rd Annual Conference - Newcastle University, Newcastle, UK United Kingdom
Duration: 3 Jul 20245 Jul 2024
Conference number: 53

Conference

ConferenceBritish Society of Gerontology (BSG) 53rd Annual Conference
Abbreviated titleBSG 2024
Country/TerritoryUK United Kingdom
CityNewcastle
Period3/07/245/07/24

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