End-of-life medical decisions in France: a death certificate follow-up survey 5 years after the 2005 act of parliament on patients’ rights and end of life
Open Access
- 3 December 2012
- journal article
- Published by Springer Nature in BMC Palliative Care
- Vol. 11 (1) , 25
Abstract
The “Patients’ Rights and End of Life Care” Act came into force in France in 2005. It allows withholding/withdrawal of life-support treatment, and intensified use of medications that may hasten death through a double effect, as long as hastening death is not the purpose of the decision. It also specifies the requirements of the decision-making process. This study assesses the situation by examining the frequency of end-of-life decisions by patients’ and physicians’ characteristics, and describes the decision-making processes.Keywords
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