Requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide when it is illegal: a qualitative study about relatives' experiences of patients hospitalized in French Palliative Care Units.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In countries where euthanasia and assisted suicide are not allowed, such as France, little is known about how a request for euthanasia and/or assisted suicide, expressed by an end-of-life patient, impacts their relatives.

Aim

To understand the experiences of relatives of patients in the advanced stages of a serious illness, hospitalized in a Palliative Care Unit (PCU), and requesting euthanasia or assisted suicide in the French context where these practices are illegal.

Design

We conducted a qualitative study in five French PCUs over the course of 1 year. Following the principles of grounded theory, semi-structured interviews were conducted with the relatives of patients who had explicitly requested euthanasia or assisted suicide to a healthcare professiona

SUBMITTER: De Cock C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11672597 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature