La relation parents soignants dans le cadre de l'accompagnement des enfants en fin de vie

After a quick review on the origin of palliative care, the author describes and analyses the different steps by which a multidisciplinary team in pediatric reanimation has to go through to accompany parents of a dying child: from the announcement of the lethal prognosis to the relationships that can still continue with the families after the death of their child. In the last part of the document few questions are raised about how the medical staff should accompany Jean and his parents. Three essentials conditions are needed to help the medical team in the accompaniment of a child and the family: 1) each member of the medical team needs a psychological stability. Indeed, because of the idea of death, the therapists can be confronted with their own old personal or professional mourning trouble; 2) meetings are essential to analyze the reality of each child: when there is no more curative solutions left, there is still psychological and emotional supports that needs to be done; 3) working with a colleague can diminish anxiety, loneliness and guilt of not being able to safe the child. In conclusion, the author testifies that accompanying a dying child is an enrichment. Deny the emotional aspect that the medical team can have is not a good solution because after a while, individuals can suffer of depression or can become a cold therapist. On the personal side, working with dying children helps to think about the sense of life.