Språk og virkelighet i dødshjelpsdebatten
Language describes reality. It also creates reality and perceptions. This is particularly evident in the assisted dying debate; there is a “battle for concepts” where both sides have their preferred words. But fruitful ethical debates require concepts and definitions that the debaters can agree on. This chapter therefore proposes a set of concepts and definitions for the Nordic assisted dying debate. Good concepts are concrete and precise, with simple and unambiguous language free from unnecessary use of imported terms; they have concise and normatively neutral definitions, and they are preferably already familiar to and in use by the public. The last part of the chapter asks whether the way we have linguistically drawn the most important distinction in the field of assisted dying – between euthanasia on the one hand and treatment-limiting decisions on the other – points to a real difference that is also ethically relevant. It is argued that the answer is yes, and that the healthcare provider’s intention is an ethically relevant difference: In euthanasia, the patient’s death is intended, while in treatment-limiting decisions the intentions are typically of quite another nature.