Fragile Lives Research Articles

Forced Returns and Fragile Lives: Strategies for Safeguarding Syrian Refugees and Ensuring Their Protection

Abstract The article discusses the deportation of Syrian refugees from Lebanon and Turkey between 2017 and 2024. It attempts to bring light on the experiences of these refugees facing forced returns, emphasising the human consequences and complicated causes underlying such actions. The purpose of this article is to raise awareness about the deportation of Syrian refugees and the urgent need for collective action to address this humanitarian disaster and preserve the lives of vulnerable individuals affected by forced repatriation. Using the descriptive analytical approach, this article investigates the legislative frameworks and international commitments that should safeguard refugees from forced repatriation. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (udhr), The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol and rules of International Humanitarian Law will be used as a standard for the definition and legal framework of refugee’s rights. The article dives into the obstacles that host countries confront, including as social, economic, and political pressures. It also emphasises the necessity of advocacy activities and protective measures to defend Syrian refugees’ rights and well-being. The findings of the article are expected to benefit Syrian refugees and raise awareness about their situation, which will contribute preserve their lives and well-being.

Fragile lives with fragile rights: Justice for babies born at the limit of viability.

There is an inconsistency in the ways that doctors make clinical decisions regarding the treatment of babies born extremely prematurely. Many experts now recommend that clinical decisions about the treatment of such babies be individualized and consider many different factors. Nevertheless, many policies and practices throughout Europe and North America still appear to base decisions on gestational age alone or on gestational age as the primary factor that determines whether doctors recommend or even offer life-sustaining neonatal intensive care treatment. These policies are well intentioned. They aim to guide doctors and parents to make decisions that are best for the baby. That is an ethically appropriate goal. But in relying so heavily on gestational age, such policies may actually do the babies a disservice by denying some babies treatment that might be beneficial and lead to intact survival. In this paper, we argue that such policies are unjust to premature babies and ought to be abolished. In their place, we propose individualized treatment decisions for premature babies. This would treat premature babies as we treat all other patients, with clinical decisions based on an individualized estimation of likelihood that treatment would be beneficial.

Fragile lives: A heart surgeon's stories of life and death on the operating table

Fragile lives: A heart surgeon's stories of life and death on the operating table

Cottage and Squatter Settlement and Encroachment on Common Waste in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: Some Evidence from Shropshire

This article examines the local impact of cottage building on common wasteland in the wood-pasture countryside of the county of Shropshire in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Based on the study of written documentary records, contemporary accounts and original maps, it examines the process of cottage building on commons in both rural agrarian and industrial contexts, exploring case studies of cottage settlement in a range of localities within Shropshire including forest, heathland, woodland and wetland areas. It outlines the character of the cottage economy and considers the regulation of cottages in relation to statute law concerning cottage building, poor relief and vagrancy. It complements the existing body of local and regional studies of cottage building, providing insight into the everyday lives of cottagers who built their cottages and encroached on common land, relying on commons access for their survival. Despite the informal existence of cottages and the fragile lives of those who inhabited them, it argues that it is possible to recover a picture of the impact of cottage settlement at a local level, and its significance as part of the development of the landscape.

More than a diagnosis

As educated women, we were bewildered by our medical care, or lack thereof. Following prenatal diagnostics of trisomy 13 or 18, we chose to continue our pregnancies. We understood that our babies would most likely die in utero or soon after birth. To enable ourselves to make informed choices, we sought information from the internet. Here, it was discovered that some babies with these trisomies can live contented, comfortable lives for many years. We considered this information as well as the anomalies of our unborn and planned accordingly. We did not want our babies to receive nonbeneficial, burdensome interventions, nor did we want them to suffer. Our hopes were not for a miracle but were much simpler: to meet and hold our babies and to be a family. Although our children, choices and outcomes are unique, we all hoped for time with our babies. We also all wished to be able to make informed decisions that respected the dignity of the fragile lives we carried. IN UTERO Pauline, mother of Liam (trisomy 18) ‘Your baby isn’t going to live’, my obstetrician commented as I sat behind the steering wheel. Although I felt comfortable with him, he supplied me with no information about trisomy 18.

Desire, Longing and the Return to the Garden: Reflections on Avatar

I n the wake of Avatar hitting our theaters and rituals of Hollywood accolades, ecological thinkers around the world are busy parsing out its various meanings, codes, symbols and implications as a contemporary piece of environmental imagination. For the more radical environmentalists, it can be a surreal experience to watch certain ‘‘tropes’’—common patterns, theme, or motifs—so central to environmental ethics and philosophy presented not only in Hollywood-style Technicolor, but now in 3D, an immersive mode of movie-going. Like the characters, we can leave our bodies behind in the theater seats and enjoy a vicarious adventure in Pandora, and taste a life of symbiosis with nature—respect and reverence for natural ecological systems, and mourning the death of every single living creature—a mode of being so distant in our own industrial, Western lives. However, it is not enough to simply marvel at the first truly ‘‘green’’ film to hit the Oscars and popular media with such a vengeance. While we may exit the theater in a rosy glow (until we are hit with ‘‘Post-Avatar Ecological Depressive Disorder’’ (Croken, 2010) feeling perhaps finally vindicated to see radical green thinking on the multiplex screen, there is a serious opportunity for further analysis and investigation into our own practices and unconscious fantasies. Specifically, what we can witness in the film, its impacts, and its aftermath, are ways in which green fantasy lends itself to a splitting up of the world—and arguably our psyche—in our desire to return to a more innocent, primitive, and sensual mode of existence. From a psychoanalytic, objectrelations perspective, Avatar (and quite possibly much of ecological thinking) contains the seeds of splitting: How we split the world into good-bad / self-other, and idealize both other cultures and previous times. Therefore, what makes Avatar so compelling for millions of people is not only its technological prowess and dazzling imagery, glowing creatures, and transporting beauty, but the way both viewer and characters (via Jake Sully) find themselves suddenly being shuttled between two entirely different worlds. The affective dimensions of this film that Jake manifests as he is pulled between the two modes of Earthly and Na’’vi existence can be complicated, contradictory, paradoxical, and profound—attributes of experiencing contemporary industrial degradation and our own complicity in it. The parable in Avatar is as much about the experience of splitting as a central feature of contemporary, Western environmental subjectivity—what an environmental awareness feels like. In this film we can experience in a safe and culturally sanctioned context the deepest longings we have for the return to the Mother (embodied in the film by the allknowing ‘‘Tree of Voices,’’ the Na’’vi, and Pandora). No wonder we find it so powerful and yet so wrenching to return to the streets and buildings, to our own fragile and broken lives. Although humans have such profound capacities for splitting up our external and internal worlds, the movement between two worlds is often deeply painful, confusing, and disorienting. Anyone who has spent ten days on the Playa at Burning Man, or lived in a different culture for an extended time, or spent even more than a few days backpacking in wilderness has tasted this. And no one knows this experience of being pulled between worlds more than environmentalists. Philosopher Neil Evernden once referred to the environmental activist as the ‘‘natural alien,’’ an alien in his or her own culture and

Reconstructing fragile lives: Girls' social reintegration in northern Uganda and Sierra Leone

In many contemporary African wars, girls and women participate in fighting forces. Their involvement is sometimes voluntary, but often they are coerced or abducted. In these forces, their roles range from porters, domestics, and 'wives' of male fighters, to spies and commanders. Few girls go through official UN processes of disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR). Their human rights severely violated, girls face enormous challenges to physical and psycho-social recovery. Typically, they return directly to their communities, or migrate to where friends or relatives live, or resettle in urban areas, where they are at increased risk of forced prostitution, sexual assault, and/or sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV/AIDS. This paper examines the experiences of girls who have returned from fighting forces in the recent conflict in Sierra Leone and the continuing conflict in northern Uganda. These experiences are compared with those of women who recalled their experiences when they were girl participants during the Mozambican war which ended in 1992.

Review article: the sociology of dying, death and bereavement.

Cobb, M., 'The Dying Soul: Spiritual Care at the End of Life' (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001 £16.99 (pbk) vii + 145pp) Currer, C., 'Responding to Grief: Dying, Bereavement and Social Care' (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave, 2001 £14.50 (pbk) v + 181pp) Field, D., Clark, D., Corner, J. and Davis, C. (eds), 'Researching Palliative Care' (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001 £22.50 (pbk) vii + 198pp) Hockey, J., Katz, J. and Small, N. (eds), 'Grief, Mourning and Death Ritual' (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001 £19.99 (pbk) vii + 286pp) McNamara, B., 'Fragile Lives: Death, Dying and Care' (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001 £17.99 (pbk) v + 165pp) Seymour, J., 'Critical Moments – Death and Dying in Intensive Care' (Buckingham: Open University Press, 2001 £17.99 (pbk) xiii + 185pp) The sociological study of dying, death and bereavement is a relatively recent field of research interest. In 1958, Faunce and Fulton wrote a paper entitled ‘the sociology of death: a neglected area of research’, their argument being that the lack of sociological research in this area was probably attributable to a wider reluctance within society to contemplate dying and death. However, despite Walter’s (1993) claim that (with the exception of medical sociology) British sociologists had been notably quiet in this topic, it would seem from the research literature that the number of sociologists researching in the area of dying, death and bereavement has increased significantly, particularly in the last 10 to 15 years. The aim of this review is to outline the work that sociologists have conducted with regard to dying, death and bereavement. Within this discussion, I locate and review the six books listed above, ending by reflecting on what sociological research related to dying, death and bereavement might explore in the future. Reviewing the work of sociologists in this field is no small task given the diversity of research that has been, and continues to be, conducted. Indeed, it is testament to the wealth of material published by social scientists that I have such a broad range of books to review. The six books cover topics that include the experiences of dying and death in the high-tech world of Intensive Therapy Units (ITUs), a reflection on the difficulties of providing ‘spiritual’ care, and an edited collection introducing the research methods used within palliative care research.

Fragile Lives – Death, Dying and Care

Journal of Advanced NursingVolume 41, Issue 5 p. 519-519 Fragile Lives – Death, Dying and Care Hilary Brocklehurst, Hilary Brocklehurst University of Hull, UKSearch for more papers by this author Hilary Brocklehurst, Hilary Brocklehurst University of Hull, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 20 February 2003 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.26053.xRead the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume41, Issue5March 2003Pages 519-519 RelatedInformation

Using the analytic hierarchy process as a clinical engineering tool to facilitate an iterative, multidisciplinary, microeconomic health technology assessment

Many articles have been written about applying decision support systems to clinical tasks, but little has been published about the complex problem of capital equipment decision making in healthcare. This problem has become the domain of health technology assessment experts, but there are few decision support systems reported in the literature. Technology assessment practitioners generally evaluate whether appropriate scientific studies exist to justify implementing a technology, or consider the macroeconomic implications that adopting a new technology may have on existing populations, economies, diseases, drugs, procedures, or devices. Following the confirmation of a technology's utility, however, the published materials available to assist the individual hospital or health system in their microeconomic health technology assessment (HTA) are very limited. In this study, the analytic hierarchy process is used to support and document the evolution of the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary process of selecting neonatal ventilators for a new women's health hospital. Although the best ventilator had the highest purchase price, its safety, clinical and technical features, plus lower operating cost factors led to its high score. This study demonstrates the AHPs ability to facilitate an understanding of the underlying criteria and priorities, and to successfully support the hospital's purchasing negotiation. For these reasons, the AHP should be considered for use as a decision support tool for future HTA projects. Scope and purpose “ Medicine is a science of uncertainty and an art of probability” Sir William Osler (c. 1904). This article describes the use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to perform a microeconomic Health Technology Assessment (HTA) for the evaluation of expensive and complex critical care neonatal ventilators for a new women's health facility. This facility is to be built by a mid-size suburban teaching hospital that provides all levels of care up through the most severe trauma cases. Neonatal ventilators are specially designed devices used for critically ill newborn babies—called neonates. These ventilators must reliably sustain tiny, fragile lives until the neonates can safely breathe on their own. This study shows that AHP can be used to facilitate the interdepartmental interactions needed to evaluate an expensive technology in today's healthcare environment. Further, this study provides a detailed analysis of how a multiple stage AHP-based decision process accommodates the evolving knowledge and understanding of the hospital participants. Finally, the study helps to show the weights that a modern hospital may give to the competing criteria it considers when making capital equipment decisions. As will be seen, the weights of some criteria such as cost are different than found in many other purchasing situations because of the implicit life-and-death nature of the trade-offs. Although reducing the cost of healthcare delivery is desirable, the savings can be misleading if a wrong alternative increases the risk of patient injury or death.

Animals, Poor People and Food Insecurity: Opportunities for Improved Livelihoods through Efficient Natural Resource Management

Poverty is a rural dilemma and continues to be a persistent multidimensional problem. It is associated with poor farmers, small farm systems, the landless, resource endowments, the socioeconomic environment and externalities. Over 75% of the poor live and work in rural areas, trapped in a poverty–adaptation–fragile lives–little hope–low life expectancy complex, with an enduring hope for self-reliance and a more comfortable life tomorrow. Since agricultural growth is central to improved livelihoods, strategies that focus on promoting such growth are critical: improved efficiency in natural resource management (NRM), of which animals are a part, can directly contribute to productivity enhancement and reduced poverty. It is estimated that approximately 678 million of the rural poor keep animals, within which the largest ownership of animals is seen in mixed crop–animal systems. The role and contribution of animals is discussed with reference to household benefits — current, medium-term and long-term savings, increased productivity of mixed farm systems, sustainability of agricultural systems and the environment, and enhancement of social stability. While large ruminants (buffalo and cattle) are very valuable for agriculture and farm security, milk and beef, ploughing and dung production, small animals (goats, sheep, chickens, pigs and ducks) are particularly important for nutritional and household security. The link between gender and animals is emphasized, especially the implications of the very strong relationship between women and children and small animals. This paper describes in detail characteristics of poor farmers and small farm systems. It discusses opportunities for NRM, and presents examples of data from different categories of animals and the extent of their contribution to total farm income, which in Asia ranges from 7–69%. It is concluded that improved animal production systems can increasingly make a significant contribution to improved human welfare, rural growth and reduced poverty. To achieve this, however, much more investment in agricultural research and development is necessary that can target less-favoured rainfed areas, coupled with participatory and interdisciplinary approaches, effective public–private sector partnerships, and commitment to purpose.

Book Review: Fragile Lives. Death, Dying and Care

Book Review: Fragile Lives. Death, Dying and Care

Fragile lives – death, dying and care Fragile lives – death, dying and care

‘It is now not so much a problem of how we manage death through medicine or religion, but how we can manage medicine in order to pave the way to a gentler and freer death,’ writes the author in this refreshingly honest book about dying.

Book Reviews

Book Reviews

Arlette Farge, trans. by Carol Shelton — Fragile Lives: Violence, Power and Solidarity in Eighteenth-Century Paris

Arlette Farge, trans. by Carol Shelton — Fragile Lives: Violence, Power and Solidarity in Eighteenth-Century Paris

Fragile lives: violence, power and solidarity in eighteenth-century Paris

The rich and complex texture of working-class neighborhoods in eighteenth-century Paris comes vibrantly alive in this collage of the experiences of ordinary people--men and women, rich and poor, masters and servants, neighbors and colleagues. Exploring three arenas of conflict and solidarity--the home, the workplace, and the street--Arlette Farge offers the reader an intimate social history, bringing long-dead citizens and vanished social groups back to life with sensitivity and perception. Fragile Lives reconstructs the rhythms of this population's daily existence, the way they met, formed relationships and broke them off, conducted their affairs in the community, and raised their young. Farge follows them into the factory and describes the ways they organized to improve their working conditions, and how they were controlled by the authorities. She shows how these Parisians behaved in the context of collective events, from festive street spectacles to repressive displays of power by the police. As the author examines interwoven lives as revealed in judicial records, we come to know and understand the criminals and the underworld of the time; the situation of women as lovers, wives, or prostitutes; anxieties about food and drink, and the rules of conduct in a fragile society. Elegantly written and skillfully translated, Fragile Lives is a book for the curious general reader and for those interested in social and cultural history.