Les enjeux de la parole médicale

The patient-physician relationship has changed greatly in France over the last years. The older paternalistic attitude has given way to a more independent relationship as preferred by our English-speaking colleagues. The relative limitations of these two approaches to health care lead to a third approach more adapted to our cultural heritage from the philosophy of the Enlightenment. These relationtional changes are of particular importance when discussing patient's rights. The right to information is now widely recognized but still raises some questions about what is “true“, and when and how it “should“ be done. Such limitations and interrogations are further aggravated in serious conditions, particularly end-of-life situations which are beyond the full apprehension of both the physician and the care givers.