The Council of State confirms that a hospital can choose from the treatments offered

somkku/epictura

Published the 28.07.2017 at 17: 50

A A

Keywords :

Board of Etatleucémiesoins palliatifschimiothérapie

It is possible to refuse a treatment, but in this case, the patients may not require the health care facility that provides the treatment of their choice, reminds the Council of State. In a decision issued this July 28, the court recalled that “it is up to the doctors that he should choose to administer a treatment rather than another” taking into account “risks” and ” benefits “.

The highest French court has been seized by the family of a child with leukemia. It required that the university teaching hospital of Montpellier administers chemotherapy curative to their son, while the doctors have advocated, in a collegial manner, a palliative treatment.

The small Lucas, age 11, suffers from a leukemia, acute lymphoblastic, one of the cancers that are more aggressive. Diagnosed in February 2016, the young boy falls into a coma the following month due to herpes simplex encephalitis. It is only in may 2017 that he managed to walk again. On the other hand, the language disorders persist because the neurologic sequelae are too important.

Too much suffering for the child

And while parents think they have lived the hard, leukemia, Lucas re-emerges. The doctors in montpellier believe that at this stage, chemotherapy is not the treatment that is most appropriate, ” given the very high probability of his uselessness, on the one hand, and of the great sufferings as well as high-risk in that it would, on the other hand “, explain the Sages of the Palais Royal.

In consultation with doctors of the CHU of Nice and Marseille, the team of Montpellier offers to the parents of Lucas to start a palliative treatment. Disagree, they have appealed to the administrative tribunal of Montpellier at the beginning of the summer. The justice had ruled in favour of doctors.

A court decision confirmed by the Council of State, but incomprehensible for the family. “With the treatment that he offers, it made it so that he dies slowly,” said the lawyer of the parents of Lucas, Françoise Fabiani. The parents may choose another health facility for follow-up of their son.