Unnatural Causes

by Dr Richard Shepherd

As humans, we have a need to know. About specific deaths. About death in general.

there was still nothing you could have done.’ That phrase is important to so many of the bereaved.

One of the normal phases of grieving is guilt.

while few people actually want to die, when it happens, death itself is probably actually pleasurable.

’Tis not enough, your counsel still be true, Blunt truths more mischief than wise falsehoods do.

Of course, I do feel angry or sad or disappointed sometimes. But, instead of displaying it, I retreat into silence. I seldom argue and never shout.

the purity of scientific truth rarely cuts through contemporary social attitudes.

No matter how loving and welcoming a new family, relationships between each individual, between the two families, must be built slowly, over years.

I am no stranger to joy. I know that joy can be truly experienced only by those who have known adversity. And adversity is an inevitability.