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Existential fear of death involves concerns about nonexistence, separation, and unfulfilled life goals.

Euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide involve ethical, clinical, and legal considerations.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and palliative sedation may be ethical ways to help patients face death.

Several years of studying cancer biology in the lab did not make me ignore the suffering and pain of cancer patients in hospitals. My father loved life and hoped to live longer. He died from esophageal cancer. The doctors were disappointed with his outcome and recommended that he go home without telling him that he had deadly cancer. A couple of weeks before his death, he lost the ability to move, eat, and drink. He fell into a coma-like state a few days before passing away. However, when I said to him several minutes before his death, "If you hear me, push my hand," he weakly squeezed my hand. He appeared to remain aware of me until the end and faced his inevitable fate.

A philosophical question: Why must we endure the suffering caused by diseases or death without selecting them?

Almost all living beings have an instinctual intention to survive and a fear of death. In this regard, existential fear of death in humans is associated with an individual's awareness of their own mortality; however, not all human beings experience this awareness in the same way, nor do all anxieties regarding death necessarily stem from consciousness. The fear of death should not be reduced to the fear of pain or the process of death. Humans may feel anxious because they fear nonexistence, separation from loved ones, and the loss of their life goals. Clinical evidence revealed that fear of death is not just a philosophical issue. It has been shown that death anxiety is a basic fear underlying various mental health conditions, such as hypochondriasis (excessive worries about illnesses),........

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