[Ideas about a "good death" in Palliative Care Nursing]

In the modern hospice movement and in Palliative Care, helping severely ill and dying patients to have a "good end of life" and a "good death" has high priority. The concept of a "good death" reflects the corresponding ideal of a "good dying". This concept analy-sis aimed at clarifying the current understanding of the characteristics of a "good death" as well as at presenting a coherent theoretical and ideational basis. The meaning of an ideal death as a point of reference and leitmotif in structuring palliative and hospice care, the theoretical background, and the components of a "good death" will be described in this article.