[Helping to die--helping to live in the boundary between life and death]. / Sterbehilfe--Lebenshilfe im Grenzbereich zwischen Leben und Tod.

ABSTRACT

Help for the dying patient is a matter of the physician's duty in the sense of the help for life in a border-line situation of human life. Even if the activity of the physician is no more determined by the thought of the preservation of life, the aims in the care for dying patients are on principle to be compared with those in the care for other patients and contain essential principles of the activity of the physician somatic area (treatment and care) psycho-social area (aid, care and communication). While the hospital in the somatic field has prerequisites for a careful treatment and care, the domestic milieu has advantages in the psycho-social area. It is recommended a flexible and individually adapted performance of the care of dying patients in the hospital and the domestic milieu.