Démarche éthique et décision en soins palliatifs. Peut-on accéder à toutes les demandes de familles ? À propos de la demande d'un conjoint de « voir le pansement » de son proche

The support and accompaniment of the proxy are an integral part of palliative care. On the occasion of the unexpected request of a wife to “see his wound and the bandage” of her husband, affected by a cancer of the rectum, we asked the question: “can we grant all the requests of families”, and tried to answer it by an ethical approach known as of phronesis. We wondered in particular if the principles of medical ethics (proposed by Beauchamp and Childress) applied only to the patients, or also to the proxies. The consideration allowed the team, not only to find an acceptable solution for the patient and his wife, but also, by the search for consensus rather than for a compromise, to go ahead together. We talk about this approach here.