What constitutes a 'good death'?

摘要

There have rcently been some high profile end-of-life cases that have caused dilemmas for many consumers and providers of health care. More patients are now expressing concerns and anxieties about how they can cope with the problems of living with a condition or disease that has left them with no prospects of a cure, and with nothing but an intolerable outcome of suffering and death. More recently, health professionals have shown their sensitivity to this patient dilemma by forming a pressure group which supports people who feel that there should be more consideration given to 'death with dignity'. Consideration of how best to help people who find themselves in this situation is growing throughout the world and with the pressures on to reduce costs of health care, there is a danger that such costs may be the catalyst for unnecessarily increasing acts of euthanasia.