Social and ethical aspects of euthanasia: a review

Patient's Perspectives on the Notion of a Good Death: A Systematic Review of the Literature

CONTEXT

There is no clear definition of what constitutes a good death or its features. Patients, caregivers, physicians, and relatives have different notions of a good death. Discussions have been driven by academic perspectives, with little research available on the patients' perspectives.

OBJECTIVES

To explore the notions of a good death from the patients' perspective.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was conducted up to November 2017 using CINAHL®, MEDLINE®, EMBASE®, and PsycINFO® databases. Search terms used were "quality of death," "good death," "quality of dying," or "good dying." Scientific empirical studies that included the exploration of the notion of a good death in adult patients with advanced and life-threatening diseases were selected separately by two researchers. Hawker's et al. criteria were used to assess the quality of articles. The analysis was conducted using a thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Two thousand six hundred and fifty two titles were identified; after elimination of duplicates, screening, and final selection, 29 relevant publications remained for analysis. Sample populations included patients with terminal diseases (AIDS, cardiovascular disease, and cancer). Core elements for a "good death" included control of pain and symptoms, clear decision-making, feeling of closure, being seen and perceived as a person, preparation for death, and being still able to give something to others; whereas other factors such as culture, financial issues, religion, disease, age, and life circumstances were found to shape the concept across groups. Studies agree on the individuality of death and dying while revealing a diverse set of preferences, regarding not only particular attributes but also specific ways in which they contribute to a good death.

CONCLUSIONS

Although sharing common core elements, patients' notions of good death are individual, unique, and different. They are dynamic in nature, fluctuating within particular groups and during the actual process of dying. Formal and informal caregivers should carefully follow-up and respect the patient's individual concepts and preferences regarding death and dying, while attending to shared core elements, to better adjust clinical decisions.

On euthanasia, resistance, and redemption: the moralities and politics of a hospice

Euthanasia/assisted dying, the desire to hasten death, and religious supportive care at the end of life are controversial issues that have been heavily debated within the academic and medical communities. Little research has been done on hospice patients' views, despite hospices being political spaces, espousing a range of perspectives on assisted dying, religiosity, and "good deaths." In this article I document the presence, articulation, and significance of these issues as perceived and experienced by 20 hospice inpatients in the last 4 weeks of their lives. Key themes to emerge included polarization in desire for hastened death and assisted dying in the hospice; the hospice as a morally bound space situated within particular notions of "dying well"; and the divisive character of religion as part of formalized hospice care. Theoretically, the participants' perspectives on euthanasia/assisted dying and religiosity in the hospice provide a means of unpacking and revealing the moral economy of modern dying practices and the institutional governance and production of "timely deaths."

Cultural scripts for a good death in Japan and the United States: similarities and differences

Japan and the United States are both post-industrial societies, characterised by distinct trajectories of dying. Both contain multiple "cultural scripts" of the good death. Seale (Constructing Death: the Sociology of Dying and Bereavement, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998) has identified at least four "cultural scripts", or ways to die well, that are found in contemporary anglophone countries: modern medicine, revivalism, an anti-revivalist script and a religious script. Although these scripts can also be found in Japan, different historical experiences and religious traditions provide a context in which their content and interpretation sometimes differ from those of the anglophone countries. To understand ordinary people's ideas about dying well and dying poorly, we must recognise not only that post-industrial society offers multiple scripts and varying interpretive frameworks, but also that people actively select from among them in making decisions and explaining their views. Moreover, ideas and metaphors may be based on multiple scripts simultaneously or may offer different interpretations for different social contexts. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in both countries, this paper explores the metaphors that ordinary patients and caregivers draw upon as they use, modify, combine or ignore these cultural scripts of dying. Ideas about choice, time, place and personhood, elements of a good death that were derived inductively from interviews, are described. These Japanese and American data suggest somewhat different concerns and assumptions about human life and the relation of the person to the wider social world, but indicate similar concerns about the process of medicalised dying and the creation of meaning for those involved. While cultural differences do exist, they cannot be explained by reference to 'an American' and 'a Japanese' way to die. Rather, the process of creating and maintaining cultural scripts requires the active participation of ordinary people as they in turn respond to the constraints of post-industrial technology, institutions, demographics and notions of self.

Euthanasia in palliative care journals

With the growth of palliative care services, interest in moral issues also seems to be growing. The controversial issue of euthanasia significantly provokes moral reflection on the care for dying patients. This article presents an analysis of the moral issue of euthanasia as it is discussed by the palliative care community in the professional journals of palliative care. Initially, the analysis will focus on describing the characteristics of the publications about euthanasia and the attitudes expressed in the articles towards this practice. Second, attention will be paid to the description of the uses of the term euthanasia in the various articles and also how frequently such uses occur. Third, the various arguments in support for or against a place for euthanasia in palliative care will be discussed.

Changing patterns of death and dying

This paper reviews changing patterns of mortality worldwide, paying particular attention to differences between developed and developing countries and the consequences of demographic and epidemiological transitions. These involve gains in life expectancy and a shift from infectious to degenerative conditions as causes of death. Reversals to these transitions in certain Eastern European and African countries, due respectively to the social disorganisation accompanying the collapse of communism and to AIDS is described. The implications of changing population structures for the experience of old age and dying are explored and gender and socio-economic differences within countries is highlighted. The current state of knowledge about differences in the dying trajectories of different causes of death is summarised and gaps in this knowledge identified. The availability of lay health care in the community at different points in the demographic transition is described, and the problems and dilemmas of formal health care provision for dying people in both developed and developing countries outlined, including an analysis of the reasons for public support for euthanasia in some Western countries. In particular, the appropriateness of models of specialist palliative care outside the cultures in which such care originally developed is questioned. Finally, there is discussion of the extent to which medical and scientific measures erode traditional religious consolations for the problems involved in dying and bereavement.