A Good Death: a Qualitative Study of Patients With Advanced AIDS

This article examines AIDS patients’ perspectives on what entails a good or bad death. The 12 domains of the qualified good or bad death include: symptoms, quality of life, people present, dying process, location, a sense of resolution, patient control of treatment, issues of spirituality, death scene, physician-assisted suicide, aspects of medical care, & the acceptance of death. The article concludes that a better understanding of these domains may enable those in the medical community to improve the care provided at the end of life. (27 refs.) (AK)