Abstract
Using the method of narrative bioethics, this article analyzes Julian Schnabel’s film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (USA/France 2007), the story of the French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was trapped in his body as the result of a cerebral infarction (Locked-in-syndrome). The ethical themes of the film are identified and evaluated as part of a public ethical discourse: euthanasia, search for identity in the disturbing experience of desease, care and compassion, spirituality and religion as dimensions of an illness narration. The results are connected with experiences of health care chaplaincy in a neurological clinic. Working with “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” in an ethical training could help doctors, nurses and therapists to reflect their care interactions and sensitize them to the dignity of neurological patients. Thereby the call for euthanasia can be reduced.