The conclusions were awaited. This Wednesday, March 29, the Falorni mission made up of 10 deputies (named following MoDem deputy Olivier Falorni) delivered its report on the end-of-life care in France. What should be remembered? This text considers that the Claeys-Leonetti law “responds to the vast majority of situations” but remains too little applied. “In most cases, people at the end of life no longer ask to die when they are taken care of and accompanied in an adequate way”, underlines the mission.
According to the report, the use of deep sedation and continues until death remains rare. The text relays a study (PREVAL-S2P) placing its prevalence at less than 1% (0.9%) in a sample of 5,714 terminally ill patients. “Its use is very, very limited,” says Olivier Falorni. And the report continues on this subject: “Deep and continuous sedation until death arouses a form of reluctance among some caregivers which might explain the low use of this practice”.
A lack of staff
The rapporteurs, in addition to Olivier Falorni, Caroline Fiat (La France insoumise) and Didier Martin (Renaissance), reveal that access to the devices of the Leonetti law “is still far from being guaranteed for all French people everywhere on the national territory” with significant disparities and certain departments which do not have a unit of palliative care. Before adding: “As long as the development of palliative care does not constitute a real priority and the means devoted to it have not been considerably increased, the rights enshrined in the various end-of-life laws cannot be fully effective”.
The report points to a “glaring lack of staff” and insists on the need to disseminate palliative culture and to modify its approach: “review in depth the training of nursing staff who are prepared to cure rather than to treat”.
Finally, the report recalls that “in most cases, people at the end of life no longer ask to die when they are taken care of and accompanied in an adequate manner. […] However, it should be remembered that the current legislative framework does not provide answers to all end-of-life situations, in particular when the vital prognosis is not committed in the short term”.
