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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Sophie Black

‘I had the last hug’: palliative care workers lament the good deaths Covid took away

Anna Nicholas, a palliative carer in Hobart, says the work of providing a compassionate, dignified and individualised death has been ‘thrown up in the air’ by Covid
Anna Nicholas, a palliative carer in Hobart, says the work of providing a compassionate, dignified and individualised death has been ‘thrown up in the air’ by Covid. Photograph: Peter Whyte/The Guardian

Rachel Coghlan first witnessed death as a four-year-old when she watched her grandfather collapse and die in front of her. Later, as a physiotherapy student working as a carer in a nursing home, she found a woman dead in her bed. A nurse taught her not to recoil and instead showed her how to bathe and dress the body.

Later again, working as a physiotherapist in London, she watched as a man from Sudan struggled to weigh up a diabolical choice between staying in the UK to access treatment, or returning home to his family but with no prospect of healthcare. He chose his family.

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