Medical staff opposition to a deep and continuous palliative sedation request under Claeys-Leonetti law.

Autor: Vitale C; Department of Oncology and palliative care, Timone Hospital, Marseille, France. Claire.vitale@ap-hm.fr.; Paul Valéry University, Montpellier, France. Claire.vitale@ap-hm.fr.; Service Oncologie médicale et Soins Palliatifs, C.H.U. Timone, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13005, Marseille, France. Claire.vitale@ap-hm.fr.; Université Paul Valéry, Route de Mende, 34090, Montpellier, France. Claire.vitale@ap-hm.fr., de Nonneville A; Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.; Faculté de Médecine - Timone 27, Aix-Marseille Université, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille, France., Fichaux M; Department of Oncology and palliative care, Timone Hospital, Marseille, France.; Service Oncologie médicale et Soins Palliatifs, C.H.U. Timone, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13005, Marseille, France., Salas S; Department of Oncology and palliative care, Timone Hospital, Marseille, France.; Aix-Marseille University, Marseille, France.; Service Oncologie médicale et Soins Palliatifs, C.H.U. Timone, 264 rue Saint Pierre, 13005, Marseille, France.; Faculté de Médecine - Timone 27, Aix-Marseille Université, Boulevard Jean Moulin, 13385, Marseille, France.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC palliative care [BMC Palliat Care] 2019 Jan 08; Vol. 18 (1), pp. 2. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Jan 08.
DOI: 10.1186/s12904-018-0384-3
Abstrakt: Background: For the year 2018, the French government plans a revision of bioethics laws, including certainly the recent Claeys-Leonetti law introducing the right to deep and continuous sedation at the request of palliative patients and prohibiting euthanasia for end-of-life patients. Because there is no published data on medical staff opposition to a deep and continuous palliative sedation request under Claeys-Leonetti law, we believe this report may give insight into physicians' decision making, into the role of criteria for prudent practice, and thus contribute to the bioethical debate.
Case Presentation: We report a 70-year-old patient with squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharyngeal region, who categorically refused any treatment since one year and asked for deep and continuous palliative sedation until death after attempting suicide. The patient's request was examined and denied by palliative multidisciplinary board, in accordance with by the French Oncology Coordination Centre guidelines. This situation did not fulfil the criteria requested by Claeys-Leonetti law.
Conclusions: As highlighted by the present case-report, patient's expectation regarding palliative sedation can be ambivalent with properly so called euthanasia or assisted suicide. This ambivalent perception was part of the controversy surrounding the parliamentary debate, which is still relevant. This case report supports that deep and continuous sedation under Claeys-Leonetti law need to meet specific criteria defined by the law and documented in the medical files as a safeguard against inappropriate practice. In fact, one of the shortcomings of the current arrangements of Claeys-Leonetti law is a lack of objective medical-based criteria. So it is necessary that scientific peer-reviews papers be published quickly in order to deepen the bioethical debate on the end of life.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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