4: The Death of Her

Dr. John Goodill is the Chief for the section of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in Department of Medicine at ChristianaCare. He started and now participates on the inpatient Palliative Care consult service. He is the Director of Supportive and Palliative Care Education and Outreach at ChristianaCare and has been a key figure in advancing Palliative Care at CCHS and across the state.

He has also been integral in the passage and implementation of Delaware Medical Orders for Scope of Treatment (DMOST) and is the current state representative to the National Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Program. He is currently Co-Chair of the ChristianaCare Ethics Committee and Chair of MSD Ethics Committee.

He is the past president of the Delaware Quality of Life Coalition (DQOLC). Dr. Goodill also participates on the Addiction Action Committee (AAC), a state-wide group tasked with trying to decrease the opioid abuse problem in the state. He represents the Medical Society of Delaware on this committee.

Dr. Goodill completed his internal medicine residency at ChristianaCare. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. He has been on the medical staff at ChristianaCare since 1987 as a pulmonary specialist and more recently as a palliative care specialist.

In 1997, I enrolled in Mortuary College and began my embalming apprenticeship. I have devoted the last 23 years to death, dying and bereavement, and am an expert in the realm of death care.

I have the receipts to back it up; I have worked as a funeral director, embalmer, cemetery manager, cemetery broker and crematory manager. I am always honored when I am asked to use my skills to assist my community - I grieve and support by working. I stay in touch with the needs of my community and my death care peers by never losing sight of where I came from, and continue to work with families in funeral home and cemetery settings.

In 2005, I became a certified Celebrant through the InSight Institute based in Oklahoma City. Through their training, I learned to officiate funerals and soon after graduating, I understood that was the thing I was meant to do. I have assisted thousands of families during my tenure in death care, and have created over 100 funerals and weddings. Not only do I enjoy writing, but I also love public speaking.

If you look online or your local bookstore, it is easier than ever to see death care professionals educating the public on “good death” practices. Leaders like Caitlin Doughty and Alua Arthur are inspiring a new generation of death care providers. Like them, my passion is sharing the knowledge I have gained over the last 20 years, and helping others to be active participants in the death and dying process.

In January of 2021, I decided that my next step was to focus on grieving, as we are going to be doing a lot of t… Read More