“Restoring the complex dimension of questions surrounding the end of life is today a civic emergency”
[ad_1]
Prepairing its end of life is like preparing a trip to a region of which we know nothing, of which we have no map, all at an unknown time. A trip from which we are sure not to return. Because if death is a certainty for every living being, the time of the appointment and its modalities generally remain unknown. The subject itself is not at first sight very attractive: who in good health can want to talk about death, if not to evoke that of others or to make it the subject of a thesis?
However, both the aging of the population and the impact of chronic diseases make it a subject of society. And we are undeniably witnessing a empowerment – an increase in the ability to act – of citizen users of the health system, who demand greater involvement in the health choices that concern them, an improvement in their exchanges with professionals and an enhancement of their expertise as patients, all of this strengthening democracy in health.
Our end-of-life legislation, including the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016, goes in this direction. It offers the possibility of mobilizing mechanisms and practices allowing everyone to express their wishes concerning this particular moment in their life: the drafting of advance directives, the designation of a trusted person, the right to refuse or request stopping treatment (including artificial nutrition and hydration), the possibility of asking, under certain conditions, to be deeply sedated until death. So many devices, still insufficiently known today, which aim to respect everyone’s preferences.
Despite this, a large part of the population is still faced with the death of a loved one or the prospect of their own without having all the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions and to have them respected. More generally, we can see a lack of anticipation around the end of life, all the more problematic when this phase takes place at home, as is however the wish of a majority of our fellow citizens. This lack of anticipation concerns both patients and healthcare professionals.
Permanent debate
Most public positions and debates around the end of life today seem to be reduced to the question of whether or not to legislate on active assistance in dying. The expectations and needs of the patients and their relatives involved are rarely taken into account.
You have 63.05% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.
[ad_2]
Source link
