Learn about organ donation at the end of life and how to have conversations about it and other difficult topics.

My guest Dr. Toby Campbell is a Professor of Medicine, Thoracic Oncologist, and Palliative Care Physician who is also a writer and podcaster. He is currently writing A Doctor’s Guide to Hard Conversations and created the Extraordinary Conversations Podcast, which explores the pivotal discussions that arise around organ donation and transplantation–and event at the end of one life that helps prolong another life. He discusses these challenging conversations and how they might inform other situations when we need to talk about a difficult subject. Learn more at the website:

extraordinaryconversationspodcast.com

Watch on YouTube

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This episode includes:

• How Toby’s desire to practice “slow medicine” led to his interest in oncology and palliative care
• Challenges faced by families in organ donation situations
• Recognizing that some healthcare decisions are more for the future than for the present moment
• How the Dying process differs when organs are being donated
• Rituals that might occur in the setting of organ donation
• Why our feelings about organ donation need to be discussed as part of our end-of-life planning
• How organ donation can end up helping donor families with their Grief
• Tips for having difficult conversations including building rapport, responding to emotion, eliciting values and priorities

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Register for Q&A Session with Shelby Forsythia about Of Course I’m Here Right Now
• Get tickets for May 9th Life Review: The Hospice Musical
• Support the Kickstarter Campaign for Life Review
• A Year of Reading Dangerously reading group
• Get Wild and Holy on Amazon or Bookshop
• Latest post on Substack:  Rethinking the Bucket List
• What Really Matters Podcast
• View my  Patreon tier for Soul Supporters and receive extra reflections as a special bonus
• NEW Gift Guides for Caregivers, People Receiving Care, and People Who are Grieving
• Get my two newest books!! Stories from the Dark Night and The Tao of Death
• Get EOLU Podcast Merch here
• Conversations on Death with ChatGPT – Audiobook here; Print Book here
• Leave me a message by email: [email protected], Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
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If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my latest donor Joy Fletcher. And thanks to Cathy Duke for making a donation on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

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Karen Wyatt Karen Wyatt MD

Dr. Karen Wyatt is the bestselling author of the book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying, which contains stories of patients she cared for as a hospice doctor and the spiritual lessons she learned from them at the end of their lives. Her other books include The Journey from Ego to Soul, Stories from the Dark Night, and The Tao of Death. Dr. Wyatt also hosts End-of-Life University Podcast, which features conversations with experts who work in all aspects of end-of-life care. She is widely regarded as a thought-leader in the effort to transform the way we care for our dying in the U.S. In addition, she is valued for her application of spiritual principles to illness and healthcare and teaches that in order to live life fully we must each overcome our fear of death and embrace the difficulties that life brings us.