Moral ortothanasia and the right to die

Based upon a historical analysis of death and dying in different contexts and reflecting on the interfaces between religion, philosophy, and medicine, this paper elaborates on the ethical quandaries associated with the process of dying from three different narrative perspectives: first, second, and third person. A sound pragmatics of care is developed when these three narrative voices are integrated into a meaningful whole. The process becomes then a true ortothanasia: dying is in harmony with personal expectations and desires, the needs of relevant others and the regulations implicit or explicit in society. It is contended that beliefs and practices designed to fit into one of the narratives may not necessarily serve to explain phenomena in other discourses. A right ortothanasia demands an hermeneutics of death and a dialectics of dying.