Palliative care: why France is lagging behind

«

At the age of 104, my grandmother, Elisabeth, withered away for two months, curled up in pain in her bed, without the nursing home where she was cared for calling a palliative care team. I had to threaten them with legal action so that they would finally react," said Frédérique, a 50-year-old therapist. A team finally intervened and put a morphine patch on him. She died the next day but relieved." In the debate on the end of life, testimonies of disastrous care at the end of life abound. Tirelessly, they feed the two mantras of this reflection: "we die badly in France" and "we must develop palliative care". For more than twenty years, politicians have been making this promise, less controversial and less mediatized than that of legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide. However, the right of access to palliative care, established by the 1999 law, remains an unfinished business. Since then, the national plans have been...

This article is for subscribers only. You still have 83% to discover.

Want to read more?

Unblock all items immediately.

TEST FOR 0,99€

Already a subscriber? Log