Dying Well – Prof Maddocks tells how
A belated but hearty congratulations to palliative care Godfather, Emeritus Professor Ian Maddocks, who was named Senior Australian of the Year 2013. My heart jumped with joy at the news as I played a small part supporting his nomination by another South Australian, whose wife had recently been diagnosed with a terminal disease.
The media has told the inspiring story of “Prof’’, who at 81 years of age is still administering medication for pain management to the dying well into the night.
However, for those of us whose lives have been touched by this Angel Gabriel, our stories are not just about the welcome pain relief, but also about how “prof’’ provides his patients with boundless care and compassion and helps them prepare to die with dignity.
We met Professor Maddocks in the most traumatic circumstances – at the end of a hospital bed only hours after my husband was told he was going to die. Ignorance is not bliss facing such a life crisis as a death sentence from disease. For the next 10 months, Prof was only a telephone call away and he knocked on our door many times to give a prescription, adjust medication or administer a morphine injection. It was priceless professional support at bulk bill Medicare rates.
Importantly, Professor Maddocks has played a pivotal role in enlightening the community that the dying process is a valued part of the life cycle. It is not to be shied away from and to this end he envelops the family in the task at hand. He treats his patients with dignity and kindness and respect until the moment of death. He informs his patients and rather than dwelling in fear, his information gives them power. They know their fate is on the horizon and can face it as any other phase of life – fearlessly and in a comfortable state.
Dying is actually an ebbing of life, sometimes over a long period of time and for many, such as my beloved husband, severe cancer pain was a real fear. Yet, with strong pain relief, he led a full life until the last two months when Professor Maddocks instructed a caring brigade of palliative nurses who called at home twice daily to administer timed doses of morphine intravenously.
Prof’s aim is to keep the patient comfortable to enable him/her to participate in life as much as practicable and this is all the more remarkable because he is an octagenarian.
The good professor has devoted the last 25 years of his “rather extended life’’ to developing palliative care as a discipline.
In a recent interview he explained care of the dying. “It’s about how you can make terminal illness into something which is positive and which family can feel happy with as they see the departure of the loved one going well,’’ he said.
“We were not doing dying well. We were putting the dying away inside rooms; we were not thinking of the family. Hospitalised care is isolating and I thought we should be doing this better.’’
Professor Maddocks, who was made a member of the Order of Australia in 2003, was the first Foundation Professor of Palliative Care at Flinders University in 1988 and prior to that he was the Senior Medical Specialist at the Flinders Medical Centre. He was the first president of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Palliative Medicine.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1983 as Chair of the Board of Directors of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War.
Death was the last taboo, stuffed into the closet, but Professor Maddocks threw it open to allow the dying process to be aired as a stage of life which families should not fear, but face as a precious time for loving, laughing, for talking together and saying goodbye.
This is why Professor Maddocks’ award is such a joy because he has had the platform to talk about dying well; about creating a supportive environment of “love and courage and patience’’ so our loved ones can leave us peacefully and pain free.