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Sammanfattning

The room of the dying is perhaps one the most private rooms we know of, at home probably to an even larger extent than in the hospital or nursing home. What happens in the private territory of the dying person’s room at home must also be within the confines of the law. A post hoc assessment of a death’s lawfulness, through a death certificate, is not sufficient. The legality of home death must also be secured proactively through the establishment of governing constraints for practices in end-of-life care. This article investigates how three different governance technologies are used to attempt to secure the lawfulness of home death. An analysis of guidelines for palliative sedation for the dying shows how concepts of causes, proportionality and intention together trace the boundary between illegal euthanasia and legal palliative sedation. The analysis continues in a script analysis of palliative infusion pumps for use at home and of palliative medicine boxes. Life experience is such a key value that it must be protected against health workers and next-of-kin’s end of life care, if necessary, at the expense of the dying person’s right to self-governed autonomy and conduct of life.

MeSH