The Social Origins of Dignity in Medical Care at the End of Life

How do social forces constrain or foster dignity at the end of an individual’s life? Such a question rightly concerns individual patients, their families, and decision-makers beyond the circle of immediately affected people. A society in which people die in an undignified fashion must surely be concerned with this state of affairs. And a key measure of the credibility of any health-care system is surely the respect and dignity it accords to its most vulnerable patients, those who are dying.