This paper is aimed at analyzing the contributions of the work Abouth death and dying by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in order to problematize the human condition in patients with terminal illnesses. After conducting a seminar on death and dying for many years, the author developed with her students a theory regarding personal stages that patients and their relatives go through when death is near. This approach provides possibility conditions not only to clarify many possible reactions patients may have when facing death, but also to understand how current societies are not structurally ready to face this subject. Such perception is consolidated with analyzes of the bioethics ramifications of the author's contribution relating them with recent biopolitics researches of Giorgio Agamben.
Inpatients; Death; Adaptation psychological; Public policy