PhD defence and book presentation ‘Ready to give up on life’
The question whether elderly people who consider their lives to be completed and no longer worth living are entitled to assistance in actively bringing their life to an end is currently the subject of a vigorous public debate in the Netherlands. To reach well-informed political and practical decisions in the matter, it is necessary to gain a good understanding of the nature of the wish to ‘give up on life’: What do elderly people actually mean when they say their life has ‘reached completion’? What are the underlying reasons and experiences that give rise to the wish to die?
Els van Wijngaarden recently completed her PhD research at the University of Humanistic Studies on the experiential world of elderly people who feel their life has reached completion. On Tuesday 22 November she will defend her thesis titled Ready to give up on life. A study into the lived experience of older people who consider their lives to be completed and no longer worth living.
In the afternoon she will present the results of her study to a wider public with a Dutch book (titled Voltooid leven: over leven en willen sterven). This book presentation is coupled to a public symposium where various speakers will share their views on a completed life and on the results of the study. Ample time is reserved for contributions by the audience. With this afternoon we seek to promote an open and well-informed discussion on the sense of a completed life and the wish to die.
Els van Wijngaarden recently completed her PhD research at the University of Humanistic Studies on the experiential world of elderly people who feel their life has reached completion. On Tuesday 22 November she will defend her thesis titled Ready to give up on life. A study into the lived experience of older people who consider their lives to be completed and no longer worth living.