Les directives anticipées : un semi-échec transitoire ?

In our Western societies, the conditions of dying are increasingly the result of a choice made in the name of the principle of autonomy. Many western countries have legislated on the end of life, notably by including in their legal corpus the possibility for everyone to write advance directives in which one expresses one's wishes concerning the end of one's life. Such directives will only apply though, if the patient can no longer express himself/herself directly. Paradoxically, this legal provision based on autonomy is welcomed by people who however do not take steps to apply it to themselves. Only 2.5% of French people for example have written advance directives! This article attempts to analyze what we can describe as the partial failure of this movement. Should we then relegate advance directives to oblivion or, attempt to draw lessons from this partial failure and remedy the loopholes therein so as to integrate them into a more flexible, more broad-minded, care/support system; one that is less prescriptive but perhaps more easily accessible for patients and which relies on a doctor/patient partnership?