Fortellinger om død, verdsetting av liv

Assisted dying is, almost by definition, a dramatic topic. Thus it can also be dramatised, both in fiction and in media coverage. Stories, whether they are bestseller books like Jojo Moyes’ Me Before You or newspaper articles that spread virally, can reach a large audience. Stories also serve as indirect arguments. By depicting how assisted dying might or ought to work, they also express a normative stance on reality. This chapter investigates the patterns of some culturally central narratives of assisted dying, and questions the value judgments expressed in them. It also raises the question of which premises for further debate are brought about by such stories – premises about the assessment and valuation of human life.