RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Dignifying death and the morality of elective ventilation JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP 145 OP 148 DO 10.1136/medethics-2012-100995 VO 39 IS 3 A1 Pablo De Lora A1 Alicia PĂ©rez Blanco YR 2013 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/39/3/145.abstract AB In this paper we defend that elective ventilation (EV), even if conceived as the instrument to maximise the chances of organ recovery, is mainly the means to provide the patient who is dying with a dignified death in several ways, one of them being the possibility of becoming an organ donor. Because EV does not harm the patient and permits the medical team a better assessment of the patient's clinical trajectory and a better management of the dying process by the family, EV does not violate the principle of non-beneficence nor the principle of autonomy if we restrict the initiation of EV to those cases in which it is not known what the previous wishes of the patient were as regards to his or her care at the end of life.