Qualité de vie

Quality of life is a difficult concept to translate. Close to the term "wellness", the quality of life is a central preoccupation in politics and economy that is measured by taking into account various parameters such as socioeconomic indicators. For example, human development index and purchasing power, freedom of expression and economic, health, happiness, human rights. So quality of life can be summarized as the perception that an individual has on his environment, in the context of the culture and value system in which he lives, in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns. It is a broad conceptual field, including a complex way the person's physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, personal beliefs and their relationship with the characteristics of its environment.

With the advance of the technology, and the peak of medicine, chances of having a longer life are greater. Indeed, a lot of new treatment and surgery are developed in a way to extend life, at the same time other means of care are built to take back or harm that life; they are called extraordinary means of care, and act most likely without moral requirement. As used by doctors, 'ordinary' and 'extraordinary' will often mean 'standard' or 'non-standard'. As used by ethicists, the term 'ordinary' is often used to describe those means of prolonging life which are morally required in view of the duty (of the doctor and/or patient) to preserve life and health. In contrast, the term 'extraordinary' is used to describe those means or measures which are not in this way morally required. A treatment which is standard for a certain class of patient may be more likely to be morally 'ordinary' (that is, morally required) than a treatment which is non-standard. However, there may well be reasons why the standard treatment is not morally required in the case of an individual patient.

Euthanasia is a practice that consist to give death to a patient for medical reasons, including an incurable condition associated with pain or unbearable pain. It is passive euthanasia when the patient doesn’t receive curative care, instead only comfort care is provided (analgesics for pain, breathing comfort ...). Passive euthanasia then translates the renunciation of drug treatments, the power interruption or artificial hydration or administration of sedatives in large doses, can plunge the patient into a coma and cause death after a few days.

Palliative care is care provided to a person with a severe terminal illness. This care therefore aims to relieve pain and reduce the patient's physical and psychological suffering. This approach also applies to the family and relatives of the patient. In the context of palliative care, death is considered a natural process that avoids the aggressive treatment and unreasonable treatment. Death is not caused intentionally, but it is to maintain a certain quality of life until the death of the patient. It is possible to benefit from such care in the hospital or at home.

...