A character exhibits notable fear and anxiety at the prospect of being dead. This is as opposed to the process of dying, which can naturally be gruesome and painful but is not what this theme refers to.

Examples:
In tz2002-1x23 "Last Lap", terminally cancer sick Andy was afraid to die and seemed to hallucinate that his friend Marco had died in Andy's stead.

Aliases:
thanatophobia

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_anxiety_(psychology)