Discrimination against the dying

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to identify a kind of discrimination that has hitherto gone unrecognised. 'Terminalism' is discrimination against the dying, or treating the terminally ill worse than they would expect to be treated if they were not dying. I provide four examples from healthcare settings of this kind of discrimination: hospice eligibility requirements, allocation protocols for scarce medical resources, right to try laws and right to die laws. I conclude by offering some reflections on why discrimination against the dying has been hard to identify, how it differs from ageism and ableism, and its significance for end-of-life care.