ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE, vol. 128, n° 7, 1998, pages 552-558, 100 réf., ISSN 0003-4819, USA
QUILL (T.E.), MEIER (D.E.), BLOCK (S.D.), BILLINGS (J.A.)
The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. Rochester New York. USA, Mount Sinai School of Medicine. New York New York. USA, Harvard Medical School. Boston Massachusetts. USA
The debate over physician-assisted suicide is a small part of the process of improving care for all dying patients and their families.
Available data, although limited, can help clarify this narrow debate and can provide a useful context for articulation of the common ground.
This paper reviews these data, which suggest that unnecessary end-of-life suffering can be considerably reduced by improving access to and delivery of palliative care and improving recognition and treatment of pain and depression in terminally ill persons.
It also sets forth possible areas of common ground between the two sides in the debate.
Even with the best of care, a small number of dying patients will still have suffering that cannot be satisfactorily relieved, and some of these patients will request assistance in hastening death.
Terminal sedation and the voluntary cessation of eating and drinking may be legally acceptable alternatives to physician-assisted suicide for the few patients whose suffering cannot be made tolerable with standard palliative interventions.
Physicians should not violate their fundamental values when faced with such patients but should make patients aware of the full range of available alternatives to prolonged, intolerable distress. (...)
Mots-clés BDSP : Relation médecin malade, Soins palliatifs, Evaluation, Homme, Système nerveux [pathologie], Psychopathologie, Ethique
Mots-clés Pascal : Suicide assisté, Relation médecin malade, Aspect philosophique, Soin palliatif, Evaluation, Arbre décision, Validité convergente, Homme, Système nerveux pathologie, Psychopathologie, Ethique
Mots-clés Pascal anglais : Assisted suicide, Physician patient relation, Philosophical aspect, Palliative care, Evaluation, Decision tree, Convergent validity, Human, Nervous system diseases, Psychopathology, Ethics
Notice produite par :
Inist-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et Technique
Cote : 98-0207195
Code Inist : 002B18C11. Création : 11/09/1998.