What Is Dignity in Death? | Lindsay Batty-Smith & Dr Rachel Burman | What Remains with Natasha

What does it mean to die with dignity, and who tells you that you are dying in the first place? In this episode of What Remains, Natasha talks across the divide between dying and death with two guests who work on either side of it. Dr Rachel Burman is a palliative care consultant who has spent her career in the space where curative treatment stops. Lindsay Batty-Smith is a forensic and post-mortem radiographer who qualified in 1978, ran the major incident at King's College Hospital on the day of the 7/7 bombings and has worked on tsunami victim identification. Rachel argues that patients are too often left without the truth about where their illness is heading, and that this takes away their chance to choose how to spend the time they have. Lindsay describes what dignity looks like after death: covering the body, talking to it, calling the person by name. Together they take on the myths around both professions, the idea of the wounded healer, and why working alongside death has made them more alert to ordinary life. CHAPTERS 0:00 Trailer 1:53 Meet Lindsay Batty-Smith and Dr Rachel Burman 5:17 Growing up with a pathologist father 8:29 When palliative care really begins 10:52 What dignity means for the dying 12:34 Respecting choices you disagree with 13:57 The right to know you are dying 16:19 A death cafe story 19:35 Inside post-mortem radiography 22:18 The wounded healer 24:16 What good palliative care looks like 28:13 Is the work as hard as people assume? 32:56 Misconceptions about radiography 34:53 Misconceptions about palliative care 37:28 Witnessing death again and again 40:09 How the work changes the way you live 42:49 Seeing the person, not the disease 48:22 Why mortality makes us human 51:44 Small acts of kindness 55:40 Advice after a terminal diagnosis 58:11 Career highlights 1:00:45 Three objects: a skull, a dodecahedron and a stone 1:05:17 Closing thoughts ABOUT THE GUESTS Lindsay Batty-Smith is a diagnostic and forensic radiographer and a long-standing member of the International Association of Forensic Radiographers. She led radiography in A&E at King's College Hospital for 15 years, served as safeguarding adults and learning disability lead, and volunteers with the palliative care team at King's. She is also a musician. Dr Rachel Burman is a palliative care consultant. She works in a motor neurone disease clinic, teaches medical students and works in medical ethics and law. If you or someone close to you has had a terminal diagnosis, Rachel's advice in the episode is to ask for a referral to palliative care or to your community palliative care team. She also points to Macmillan and Marie Curie. Subscribe for more conversations about death, dying and what they teach us about living. #PalliativeCare #EndOfLifeCare #DeathAndDying #ForensicRadiography #WhatRemains