Context: Some patients in palliative care units request euthanasia regardless of legislation. Although studies have explored the reasons for these requests, little is known about the subjective, relational, and contextual repercussions for the patient.
Objectives: The aim of this study is to understand the purpose of euthanasia requests from the patient's viewpoint and their personal and practical impact.
With exome/genome sequencing (ES/GS) integrated into the practice of medicine, there is some potential for reporting incidental/secondary findings (IFs/SFs). The issue of IFs/SFs has been studied extensively over the last 4 years. In order to evaluate their implications in care organisation, we retrospectively evaluated, in a cohort of 700 consecutive probands, the frequency and burden of introducing the search for variants in a maximum list of 244 medically actionable genes (genes that predispose carriers to a preventable or treatable disease in childhood/adulthood and genes for genetic counselling issues).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExome sequencing (ES) has revolutionized diagnostic procedures in medical genetics, particularly for developmental diseases. The variety and complexity of the information produced has raised issues regarding its use in a clinical setting. Of particular interest are patients' expectations regarding the information disclosed, the accompaniment provided, and the value patients place on these.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ensuring adequate end-of-life care for prisoners is a critical issue. In France, data investigating the impact of laws allowing release of seriously ill prisoners are lacking.
Aim: To assess the number and characteristics of prisoners requiring palliative care in French prisons.
Every year in France 100 inmates die in prison from illness, but their experiences with end of life (EOL) have not been investigated to date. The purpose of this article is to highlight the realities regarding inmates at the end of life, putting into perspective the viewpoints of the sick prisoners with those of the health and correctional professionals accompanying them. Based on qualitative research, the challenge is to identify potential barriers to palliative care for inmates in order to consider possible improvements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBMC Palliat Care
November 2015
Background: End stage dementia is a particularly difficult aspect of care for patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. In care institutions, caregivers and family are concerned by treatment decision-making for an acute life threatening complication occurring in Alzheimer patients at the end of life. How should the best treatment pathway be decided: to treat or not to treat? Which arguments are used for decision-making? These are mainly ethical questions which are currently difficult to express and investigate.
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