ABSTRACT
Social perspectives on ethical obligations for medical treatment and the care of persons with critical and terminal illness have changed significantly in the past forty years and are in a process of transformation again today. This chapter explores the role of the concept of solidarity and closely related notions in the ethics of end-of-life care. It argues that solidarity is not only relevant to issues of health policy and access to health care but also significant in more personal and intimate settings of clinical and family decision-making. The importance of solidarity has become more apparent as ethical analysis of the goals and practices of end-of-life care have shifted in recent years. This shift has many facets, but in this chapter I characterize it as the transition from an individualistic emphasis on the rights of the dying person to a relational and communicative emphasis on shared decision-making, institutionally shaped transactions (curated caring), and dialogic practices of judgment and decision-making.
