Resuscitation Technology in the Emergency Department: Towards a Dignified Death

Social scientists and ethicists often blame the increased use of advanced medical technologies for the undignified character of contemporary dying. Based on ethnographic material and in‐depth interviews with health‐care providers, I analyse how resuscitation technology shapes sudden death in emergency departments. First, I examine the extent to which the course of resuscitative efforts is a consequence of technological factors or of health care system characteristics. Second, I look at how resuscitation technologies indirectly offer an opportunity to face pending death. In the last part, I investigate how this opportunity can be fostered when the emergency department staff takes the needs of relatives and friends into consideration.