“Why can't they put us to sleep if we are suffering?”
La Nada and the desire for euthanasia among institutionalized older adults in Peru
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19220586 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Magdalena Zegarra Chiappori (0000-0002-0497-916X, University of Cambridge, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | e70079-e70079 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-15 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Medical Anthropology Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0745-5194 • E-ISSN: 1548-1387 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/maq.70079 |
| PMID | 42296422 |
| OpenAlex | W7164807400 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
In this article, I examine how institutionalized older adults in Peru articulate suffering through the idiom of la nada-"nothingness"-and how this shapes desires for euthanasia. Moving from close ethnography of bodies in space and time to structural and ethical discourses on euthanasia, I argue that calls for euthanasia arise not only from biomedical suffering or terminal illness, but also from socially produced experiences of relational erosion, confinement, and moral invisibility. Residents' refrain-"no tengo nada"-signals not only material lack but the collapse of reciprocal ties, autonomy, and recognition. Euthanasia thus becomes a moral claim that life cannot be defined by biological survival, absent dignity and belonging. The article challenges narrow bioethical frameworks and shows how end-of-life suffering is constituted through structural abandonment and social death, reframing the wish for euthanasia as a protest against life reduced to mere endurance without dignity
Abandonment (legal) · Bioethics · Cognitive reframing · Dignity · Ethnography · Personhood · Social constructionism · Wish · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Organ Donation and Transplantation · Palliative Care and End-of-Life Issues
| Highly cited | No |
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