Dr Ramesh Thulavavenkateswaran
Specialist Grade Doctor, St Helena Hospice
Biography
Dr Ramesh Thulavavenkateswaran is a Specialist Grade Doctor in Palliative Medicine at St Helena Hospice, Essex, working across inpatient and community settings. He has a special interest in clinical ethics at the end of life. Active in Tamil cultural education, with long experience of Tamil-language debate, he brings a cross-cultural perspective on how culture, faith and science meet at the end of life.
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Dr Caroline Barry
Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia
Biography
Dr Caroline Barry is a Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Clinical Associate Professor at the University of East Anglia. She is Co-Director of the Norfolk Motor Neurone Disease Care and Research Network and the palliative care lead for the East of England Regional Research Delivery Network. Her clinical and research interests include neuro-palliative care, symptom management in progressive neurological conditions, decision-making and mental capacity at the end of life.
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Dr Arjun Kingdon
Palliative Medicine consultant, West Essex
Biography
Dr Arjun Kingdon works as a Palliative Medicine consultant in hospital and hospice settings in West Essex. He is undertaking an MD degree with the University of Cambridge focusing on personalised care in the acute hospital. When not engaging in robust discussion on ethically charged issues – a favourite pastime – he is likely to be listening to, composing or playing music.
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Dr Sundar Balasubramian
Locum Consultant in Palliative Medicine, Ashgate Hospice and Clinical Lead at Ardgowan Hospice
Biography
Dr Sundar Balasubramanian works part-time as a Locum Consultant in Palliative Medicine at Ashgate Hospice and as Clinical Lead at Ardgowan Hospice. Having grown up in India, Sundar has always had a deep interest in spirituality, self-discovery and personal growth. These influences have greatly shaped his approach to palliative care. Beyond medicine, he is a self-taught artist who enjoys creating commissioned portraits of pets.
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Revd Dr Steve Nolan
PhD, MA, MSc, BA, MBACP (Accred.), FCHCC - Spiritual Care Lead, Princess Alice Hospice
Biography
Revd Dr Steve Nolan is Bereavement, Spiritual Care, and Counselling Lead at Princess Alice Hospice, Esher. Dual qualified as a chaplain and psychotherapist, he has worked as a clinical spiritual care specialist since 2004. Steve has published articles and books on the theory and practice of spiritual care, including the first spiritual assessment framework developed by a UK chaplain (SAIF). Areas of research interest focus on chaplaincy case studies and non-religious spiritual care (what is spiritual care if it isn’t religious?). His published work includes three co-edited collections of chaplain case studies and a monograph, Spiritual Care at the End of Life (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2012). He is currently writing a book on Psycho-Spiritual Care: A Practical Philosophy.
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Session
Thursday 11 March
10:10 - 11:10
Quays Theatre
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Opening Plenary - Presence or Sedation? A debate on terminal agitation
Where people are experiencing agitation and reversible causes are excluded, should our default be presence, or sedation? Clinicians are conditioned to medicate with urgency, yet this reduces conscious experience, and with it, opportunities for therapeutic human connection. On one side we have arguments advocating a scientific, biomedical solution to a problem: the administration of medication for symptoms. On the other side, arguments advocating an approach rooted in spirituality, human connection, relationships and presence. The ubiquity of access in the developed world to sedative medications make this a modern dilemma that is highly relevant to shaping how we die now.
Chair: Dr Ramesh Thulavavenkateswaran
Speakers for Sedation: Dr Caroline Barry and Dr Arjun Kingdon
Speakers for Presence: Dr Sundar Balasubramian and Revd Dr Steve Nolan
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