Lancet Commission

Seamus O’Mahony is a member of the Lancet Commission on The Value of Death. The Commission on the Value of Death believes that modern health care has an unhappy relationship with death and is searching for ways to improve this relationship. It is a multi-disciplinary and global commission made up of members from across the world and all walks of life.

Both society and medicine have an unhealthy relationship with death, which is primarily a social not a medical event, and our Commission is searching for ways to create a healthier relationship.

Seamus has been a member of this Commission since its inception in early 2018, joining a cohort of 25 commissioners from around the world, and from different disciplines, including medicine, philosophy, economics and sociology. The Commission looks at, among other things, the relationship between modern medicine and death in today’s society, the economics of death and dying, the human aspect of death and taming death. You can find a full list of the Commission’s publications on these topics here.

The final report was published on 31st January 2022 and is available here.