The good death: Reaching an inductive understanding

The study examines descriptions by twenty-six elderly Israelis of a good de ath. The transcripts of personal interviews were analyzed using phenomenolo gical methods to determine general and essential essences of the good death phenomenon. The good death was perceived as a multidimensional phenomenon based on eighteen general essences that were condensed into five essential essences that included the physiological, personal, interpersonal, social, and cultural domains of life. The good death incorporated past, present, an d future time periods; and was underlined by the fundamental wish to establ ish continuity. The good death description further involved a critical comp onent toward the ways in which death and dying are currently occurring in I srael. The research results call for Israeli policy-makers to more forceful ly acknowledge and accommodate the different secular perspectives of the go od death into law and to allow individuals more freedom and control over th e dying processes and rituals following one's death.