Keywords
COVID-19
resignifying of ritual practices
bad death
good death
How to Cite
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to unprecedented changes in the care and attention of ill people and in the treatment of the bodies of the deceased. This article analyses the experiences of healthcare personnel in hospitals and nursing homes, as well as of relatives of people who died during the first months of the pandemic in Barcelona (Spain). Isolation, fear of infection and the lack of biomedical infrastructures, health professionals, protective equipment and material resources led to palliative care and mourning practices being resignified. This article provides greater insight into the effects of the pandemic on the processes in support of illness and death. To this end, we propose the concept of “palliative support”, which allows us to analyse biopsychosocial care adapted to the circumstances. Using an ethnographic approach and through the narratives of health workers and relatives, we show how the ban on visits and the interruption of the usual rituals of death and mourning gave way to new practices of support, communication and ritualisation. However, these practices failed to appease the feelings of neglect and indignation of those who witnessed the loneliness of the sick or those who were unable to say goodbye to their loved ones and saw their funeral rites eliminated or postponed.
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