[Palliative care as a response to dysthanasia].

Palliative care is frequently discussed as an alternative or a counter-balance to euthanasia. In this paper, palliative care is considered as a response to dysthanasia or therapeutic persistence. First, the main features of dysthanasia are mentioned: the accent is put on different questions: until when to implement therapeutic persistence? When does the treatment become useless? What is a permanent vegetative condition? Then, palliative care, the scope of which is to achieve the best life quality for the patient and his family is discussed.