Mourir chez soi. Le cas de la médicalisation du domicile en Italie

Despite statistical evidence that most of the people in Italy express the preference to die at home, less than half of the deaths happen in a domestic setting, with significant regional differences. Based on a two years research on palliative care in Piedmont, the paper explores the moral dimensions of «home» as the space of intimate relations and of familiar obligations, central to an ideal of a «good life», and of a «good death», too. The paper focuses also on the transformations of the domestic space once it becomes a space for care, on family tensions concerning end-of-life decisions, and on the restructuring of familiar networks in these situations.