L'arrêt de soin et les fondamentaux de l'éthique

The reflection organized by the CME of a hospital about the decision to stop treatment was an opportunity to assess how much the analysis of this medical decision can introduce the whole of the professionals to the recognition of fundamental ethics. The Leonetti law of April 22nd, 2005 defines and establishes a framework for stopping treatment. It states that you can stop care, or do not implement them, if they are unnecessary or disproportionate, meanwhile respecting the duty of caring. These elements begin the ethical reflection. The law helps us to understand the distinction between law and ethics; it allows and prohibits certain things, but does not specify the details of the decision. We also find there the distinction between act and subject: it is not such care that would be rejected, but the context in which they would be applied, a context estimated in situation. Eventually, the reading highlights the link between the search for the good of the person and of the common good: caring is an imperative that lies within the limits of the humanity for nursing people.