The use of a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures made availabl
e by modern technology for critical patients have given rise to forms of de
ath which are incompatible with a person's dignity in cases in which the in
evitable occurrence of death is inexplicably delayed. The search for the mu
ltiple factors influencing this phenomenon, related to the development and
progress of medicine, leads to the investigation of four aspects deemed ess
ential in their determination: imperative technology, sanctity of life, omn
ipotence of medicine and the lack of a unique medical decision. Apart from
the availability of high technology, there is an increasing requirement of
the patient's full autonomy with respect to the decisions involving the end
of his life, which include the debated right to die. In the struggle towar
ds death with dignity in a context where practical decisions are required,
the following are taken into account: refusal of treatment, irreversibility
of clinical diagnosis and palliative support, and withholding and withdraw
al of life-sustaining therapy.