Bookends: A Family Doctor Explores Birth, Death, and Tokothanatology

Toko●thanat●ology (n): The theoretical study of the parallels between birth and death, especially in medical care.

What do birth and death have in common? They both represent times of profound change, when patients and their families need emotional support and empathy from their caregivers—things they don’t teach in medical school.

The practical skills and knowledge required to provide care in obstetrics and palliative care are essential. But dealing with the deeper meaning, the human connection, is equally important. The very nature of these events encourages the caregiver to walk alongside the patient, to assist rather than control.

In Bookends, Dr. Susan Boron explores the powerfully human aspects of caring for people at both ends of their lives. She shows how expertise in one area of care easily transfers to the other, increasing confidence and improving care and satisfaction for practitioner and patient alike.

Dr. Susan Boron was a rural family doctor for over 40 years. She delivered hundreds of babies and cared for many people at the end of their lives, supporting her patients and their families through both of these life-altering events. Through the University of Western Ontario, she supervised rotations of medical students and family practice residents for more than three decades, focusing on the human connection—the softer side of medical care. Her husband, Doug, ran a local palliative care programme for many years. He died of ALS in 2018.
 
Now retired from medical practice, she is on the board of the Canadian Mental Health Association-Grey Bruce and lives on her 100-acre property with her dog, Kitt.