Smrt i umiranje danas
Death and Dying Nowadays

Summary/Abstract: Death was always a challenge to human, particularly to medicine, and have had a central point in every era. It imposes itself as a great philosophical question, closely connected with meaning of life and existence. There is a close connection between human attitude before death and his consciousness of him/herself, i.e. between degree of consciousness of one own's Being and personality. In this conception of him/herself and death, religion, faith and ideology, as well as personal culture and culture of environment, play important role. The transition from society guided by traditionally values to modern civil society, the historians noticed great changes in relationship between human and death. Traditional society was guided by religious heritage, and, althought defended life, has accepted death as necessary part of life. It, therefore, mourned in the case of every deathy in community. Our contemporary culture hardly recognizes death and wants to separate it from life. By only cursory view to contemporaneous culture, two opposite attitudes toward death can be easily noticed: centrality of death in a philosophical thought, which defines human as »being for death«, in one hand, and on the other, there exists practical elimination of death from life, best noticed in the so called »American way of dying«. Our society is guided by technological-scientific mentality and has succeeded to supply medical men with mighty remedies for saving human life, namely, it is »expected« from them not to accept the fact of death and to extend the life with the help of instruments, even when there is no hope. It seems that such technological »progress« has been regulated against human dignity in itself. Thus, new bioethical discussion on dignity has opened, known as distanasia. Our culture easily recognizes and accepts euthanasia and medically supported suicide, but there is no consciousness on »dignity of dying«, which is necessary to be regained by contemporary human.

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