[Palliative care, a humanitarian way (Part 1)]

Fully experiencing the last moments of life, in a setting of relative calm and affection, is one of the victories won by the Western movement to rediscover death, which began three decades ago. The author describes the fertile ground from which this movement emerged and makes no pretence of defending medical technology that today supports a multitude of tests in a sort of diagnostic obsessiveness before shifting to a therapeutic obsession in treating people with incurable disease. The author instead advocates the benefits of death with dignity. A well structured analysis of the palliative approach confirms the inalienable nature of human freedom and dignity.