Ethik in der Palliative Care

Palliative care is a response to fundamental questions of modern medicine: How far do we want, should, or must we go to preserve, prolong, and improve life when it is limited by incurable illness, old age, or dying? What is required for a life and death that respects human dignity and freedom? Should we do everything that is medically possible, or does this contradict personal and societal notions of a good life and death? And where today's medicine reaches its limits, how do we deal with suffering and dying? What needs are paramount in these situations? How can we meet them for as many people as possible? What is essential in the relationship, in attitude and behavior towards each other between those who are incurably ill, who must perhaps want to go, and those who care for and accompany them in this situation? The book 'Ethics in Palliative Care' provides answers to these questions by comprehensively describing the historical, medical, ethical, and theological backgrounds of palliative care and documenting its significance within the Swiss healthcare system.