Why we don't want people to die alone (Jamieson Webster)

Jordi Graupera

When the pandemic hit New York, Psychoanalyst and professor Jamieson Webster volunteered to work in a hospital. Her work: to be with those that were about to die alone, and help out their family members. This has been a trend during this Covid19 pandemic: many people have died alone because they were too infectious to be with someone. Why does this revolt us, if dying alone or in company of your loved ones does not make a difference factually —people will die anyway? This is the question that took me to interview Dr. Webster. In this interview we discuss what Dr. Webster has learnt in the process, and from there, we explore the perspective that informs her practice: Freud, Lacan, and a bit of Politics. Jamieson Webster's published a couple of articles on her experience that we discuss in the interview. We also discuss an older article in which she argues against the use of psychiatric medication. Here they are: 1. "What paliative care looks like in a pandemic": https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/04... 2. "Psychoanalysis in time of Plague": https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/04... 3. "The psychopharmacology of everyday life": https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2018/11...