[Ethical and legal problems in severe dementia. The right to die in peace]

The progression toward a natural death, without medical intervention, which was the normal route until fairly recently, could be attributed to the lack of means and medical facilities, influencing the development of events toward a normal death. The advances in medical technology that prolong life have created a false notion in our society that a longer life goes hand in hand with a high quality of life, which in most cases is false. The fact that intellectual and physical functions have sometimes been maintained or only minimally impaired has served to create the obligation to try all medical techniques, provoking clearly futile treatments and behaviors. In the terminally ill, our approach should be proportional to the needs of the patient and should be based on the principles of bioethics. A wise and not too academic bioethical approach should be able to help us to take the right decisions aimed at satisfying the patient's needs at the end of life. A bioethical approach that studies life not simply from the biological but also from the biographical perspective--with maintenance of life as a right rather than as an obligation--is required.