The Human Being in the Face of Death

Abstract

The article offers a personal and philosophical reflection by a physician on the relational dimension of death and dying. Drawing on hospital experience and existential inspirations (Jaspers, Rorty, Levinas), the author presents death as a cultural, social, and deeply relational event. The point of departure is the observation of the solitude of the dying and the tension between the instinct to preserve life and the acceptance of its end. The author explores the boundaries of futile therapy, moral dilemmas surrounding euthanasia and assisted suicide, and the role of truth in the physician–patient relationship in terminal care. A central context is the dignity of the human person – understood through the lens of Christian personalism and existential philosophy.