261 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 H. Selin, R. M. Rakoff (eds.), Death Across Cultures, Science Across Cultures: The History of Non-Western Science 9, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18826-9_16 The Right to a Dignifed Death in Argentina Juan Pedro Alonso, Natalia Luxardo, and Javier Roberti Abstract In this chapter we describe and analyse the public debates on death with dignity in Argentina, from the frst attempts to regulate the rights of terminally ill patients to the political process that resulted in the ‘death with dignity’ Act. Based on documentary sources and sociology of public problems approach we discuss the process of legal change regarding treatment refusal at the end of life. After a short sketch of the history of the debates on death with dignity, we discuss the social and political factors that led to a legal change regarding death with dignity. We posit that the political context and how the debate on end-of-life care was introduced into the public domain explain the legal changes and ethical concerns related to a death with dignity in Argentina. Keywords Death with dignity · End of life care · Argentina Introduction Death and dying in medical practice include many ethical dilemmas. How these are resolved varies across countries, cultures and legal frameworks. In countries with advanced healthcare systems, withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment, assisted suicide and euthanasia have shaped the public debate on end-of-life care in the last few decades. Advancements in medical technology during the 1950s and 1960s, such as pul- monary ventilation and artifcial nutrition, signifcantly changed the end-of-life experience. The capacity to sustain the function of vital organs created liminal J. P. Alonso (*) · N. Luxardo Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: juanpedroalonso79@gmail.com J. Roberti FINAER, Buenos Aires, Argentina