The Beaumont Medical Club Presents: "Death Doulas and the Struggle to Demedicalize Death," Deborah Streahle, PhD Candidate, History of Medicine

The Beaumont Medical Club Presents:

Death Doulas and the Struggle to Demedicalize Death

Deborah Streahle, PhD Candidate, History of Science and Medicine

Friday, April 9, 2021 at 5:00 PM via Zoom

What does it mean to demedicalize death? This talk will describe how a new category of non-medical death worker, the death doula, arose to address gaps within biomedicine at the end of life. From advising individuals about advance directives to sitting at the bedside to orchestrating home funerals, the modes of care and companionship offered by death doulas are varied. As specifically non-medical caregivers that nevertheless work during a frequently highly medicalized time of life, death doulas offer a unique perspective on biomedical dying. This talk analyzes the radical potentials and pitfalls of death doulas’ struggle to demedicalize death.

Presented via Zoom. Please RSVP for more information.