Controlling Death. Highlights from Harvard Medical School Annual Bioethics Conference

Abstract

The 2019 Harvard Medical School Annual Bioethics Conference questioned if we’re controlling death by choosing when and how we die. This integrative review compared literature findings with the discussion of the Conference. While people discuss comfort and dignity in their end-of-life, legal and ethical aspects of Palliative Care and other exit options like Palliative Sedation to Unconscioussness, Voluntarily stopping eating and drinking, Physician-assisted death and Voluntary active euthanasia must be discussed, as well as Advance Directives and palliative care team. We concluded arguing which other health conditions (psychiatric, cardiovascular or respiratory) could benefit from the exit options.

Keywords

• palliative care
• euthanasia
• right to die
• advance directives