The Wrong Order of Things

“This was truly the easiest of difficult reads. I would urge anyone with reservations about the subject to set these aside. Michelle uses the same wise and calm voice that clearly makes her such a comfort to her patients, to guide us through her work and the lessons it can teach us. Yes, I cried, but more often than this, I smiled. This book will stay with me for a long time.”
- Evie King, author of Ashes to Admin

Michelle Hills draws us into the circle of thoughtful compassion around each child and family she introduces, as she helps us to contemplate the unthinkable: dying children. With grace and humility she explores how, when dying cannot be prevented, it can still be accompanied, soothed and made bearable for these children who will not reach adulthood. She calls us to be witnesses and safe listeners to the names and the stories welling in the hearts of bereaved families, asking us to turn towards them instead of turning away. This brave book explores the collaborative teamwork of children’s palliative care services, whose focus is not to add days to life (although with good symptom management, that is often the case) but to add peace, fun, contentment and joy to every precious day that remains.
- Dr Kathryn Mannix, Sunday Times bestselling author and pioneer in palliative medicine

Dr Michelle Hills studied medicine at Cambridge before completing postgraduate degrees in palliative medicine and in medical education at Cardiff. She has spent her career in palliative care, employed as an NHS hospital consultant and as a chief medical officer for a charity children’s hospice.

Michelle has cared for thousands of children who will die early and worked tirelessly to manage their symptoms and listen to their wishes. She believes passionately that there needs to be greater societal understanding of the reality that children can become sick enough to die and cannot always be saved and that every child deserves excellent care in life and a peaceful, dignified death. She has worked with journalists and contributed to articles for news outlets and was asked to speak at The Houses of Parliament as part of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Dying Well.

Through her additional role as Chair of the Paediatric Palliative Medicine Specialty Advisory Committee for the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, she has shaped the education of the future generation of children’s palliative care doctors. She’s also an honorary university lecturer and has served as an executive committee member for the Association of Paediatric Palliative Medicine.

Michelle will share composite stories from various cases to ensure patient anonymity and to uphold her unwavering duty of care.

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