The first week of seeing COVID patients in hospital was "shocking," she says. It made her determined to try and communicate humanity through other forms. The most important thing at the bedside has nothing to do with morphine or another drug, it is your simple human presence. She believes many non-palliative care teams didn't understand the power of a human relationship in medicine.
Ian Sample talks to Dr Rachel Clarke about her experience working in palliative care in the NHS and now with hospices in Ukraine. She tells him what dying can teach the living, what we can learn from the Covid pandemic, and reveals the anguish and defiance of trying to provide a dignified death in the midst of war. Help support our independent journalism at
theguardian.com/sciencepod