Personal unity in dying: alternative conceptions of the meaning of health

Death is a universal phenomenon. In the health care system, however, it is regarded as unfortunate and catastrophic. Death is perceived as the extreme end of a continuum whose opposite end is health. In nursing practice, through the application of nursing diagnosis and nursing process, dying is treated as a procedural problem. Rarely is dying treated as part of the experience of living, characterized by the meanings assigned by the individual to the event. The purpose of the study was to describe one person's dying experience as a personal expression of the meaning of health.