ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on unpacking the presence of specific normative expectations around dying. It explores just some of the ethics and moralities of dying within the hospice setting, focusing on questions of assisted dying and the role of religiosity. Sociologically speaking, dying is thus a morally-laden site of illness and care, bound by evolving and often institutionally-governed cultural and social norms. Formalised palliative care models of 'dying well' may interplay, perhaps subtly and differentially depending on the organisation, with religious ideas about 'acceptance', 'moving on' and dying as 'a stage'. Catholicism has been stridently against euthanasia or assisted dying, perceiving suicide as an unforgivable sin. The interviews reinforced the complexities and differentiated perspectives on euthanasia or assisted dying and desire to hasten death, even among a relatively small group of hospice in-patients. The moral economy of dying that provides a relational framework for 'dying well', through cultural scripts around 'good deaths' and ideas about gift and obligation.
