The living will in intensive care

v anglickém jazyce: The aim of the thesis is to provide description of nursing and medical aspects and offer ethical and legal context concerning the issue of living will. The body of the thesis is divided into theoretical section and practical section. The theoretical section deals with the issue of living will from the nursing and medical point of view with characterization of several serious conditions in intensive care such as apalic syndrome, terminal state etc. The chapter on legal aspects of living will defines the term 'lege artis', 'do not resuscitate - DNR', and characterizes the matter of decision making in the case of serious and terminal states. The chapter on ethical perspective discusses the process of dying and the Christian point of view on the issue of dying. The practical section processes the results of a survey based on 104 non-professional respondents and their replies to a provided questionnaire. The research section analyzes the level of knowledge which non-professional population has of the issue of living will. The closing discussion evaluates the confirmation of established hypotheses and provides practical suggestions. Keywords: living will, dying, ethic, resuscitation, terminal state