Table 3.

Reasoning about wild cards

Participant	Primary dimension of reasoning	Exemplifying quote
Louise	Existential/Spiritual	“Yes, for my wild card people shouldn’t see it as suicide but more like something from old sagas, in Hinduism and all sorts of things. When you feel that the end is coming and your body is ready, then you can be allowed to wilt. And you don’t water a flower that is wilting … And I also know there is an idea in anthroposophy [philosophy based on work of Rudolf Steiner] that it is important for the other world that people live as fully as possible for as long as possible. But I don’t believe that, because we’re living so very artificially.”
Marie	Practical	“Yes, I’m kind of in favor of active euthanasia … I think that when I feel that I’ve given everything I can … And I kind of think … that was the limit … When I no longer know what my name is and where I live… And yeah, I think that, you know, that when you can’t fill in your own forms and all that, then you’ve lost your human dignity … when you’ve done your part, then you let it come to an end and there’s not much more to it … kind of like being used for heating [during the cremation process], I definitely wouldn’t have anything against that [body being made useful after death]”
Peter	Physical	“And so I think, if you’re going to lay there and really have a terrible time breathing for a longer period of time and so … that terrifies me. So in that kind of situation, I would like to say that ‘there looks like there’s no prospect of improving, so therefore I’d like to end it now’. That’s the way I would want to it to be for me.”
Thomas	Social	“Considering those close to me … I would want them to avoid having to see me as a vegetable that suffers and have the frustration that you can feel … Maybe it’s because I’ve experienced close up people who have died … where it’s been a long, drawn out process of suffering and it’s plagued the person in question and those who were close … So I’ve made up my mind that it would have been better for the person in question and those who cared about them if you had had the right to end it.”