End-of-life
During the last decades there have been many important changes related to end-of-life. People are old, and in some cases extremely old, when they die. Aging, caring for dependent older persons, and the question of end-of-life have thus become major social issues, especially due to the medicalization of the later phases and last moments of life and the fact that they increasingly take place in institutions. In France major changes have been made recently to the legislative framework for patients’ rights (Kouchner 2002) and end-of-life. The recent Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016 calls on patients to make their wishes known by formulating and writing them down in advance; it also defines the conditions and situations in which patients can request deep sedation until death.
End-of-life conditions elicit impassioned debate but are not very well known. How do close family accompany members who are living their last moments? Up to what stage or moment is life medicalized? What is the frequency of dying at home? INED’s “Fin de vie” survey (conducted in both metropolitan and overseas France) works to answer these questions.
Below is a list of references and resources that shed light on this sensitive subject.
Focus on,Interviews and Press Release
Sophie Pennec tells us about the Fin de Vie en France [End-of-life in France] surveys,2023
Focus on:End of Life trajectories, by Sophie Pennec and Joëlle Gaymu, 2014
Interview:Sophie Pennec tells us about the Fin de Vie en France [End-of-life in France] survey, 2013
La fin vie en France : Analyse des lieux de fin de vie et de décès, Communiqué de presse du 3 mars 2014
La fin vie en France : Une enquête nationale, Communiqué de presse du 30 avril 2010
Videos
Première enquête sur la fin de vie en France, Entretien avec le Dr Silvia Pontone, anesthésiste-réanimateur à l'hôpital Robert-Debré (Paris) et chercheure associée Ined, (4') 4 décembre 2012
Selection of publications
Returning home to die or leaving home to seek health care ? : location of death of urban and rural residents in Burkina Faso and Senegal, Lankoandé Bruno, Duthé Géraldine, Soura Abdramane, Pison Gilles, 2018, Global health action
Vivre chez soi, jusqu’au bout, Pennec Sophie, Gaymu Joëlle, 2018, Revue internationale de soins palliatifs, 33 (hors-série)
La fin de vie, un monde de transitions, Dubert Isidro, Kesztenbaum Lionel, 2017, in La fin de vie : regards historiques, Belin, Annales de démographie historique, p. 7‑16
Trajectories of care home residents during the last month of life : the case of France, Pennec Sophie, Gaymu Joëlle, Morand Elisabeth, Riou Françoise, Pontone Silvia, Aubry Régis, Cases Chantal, 2017, Ageing and Society, 37(2), p. 325‑351
Surveying end-of-life medical decisions in France:evaluation of an innovative mixed-mode data collection strategy, Legleye Stéphane, Pennec Sophie, Monnier Alain, Stephan Amandine, Brouard Nicolas, Bilsen Johan, Cohen Joachim, 2016, Interactive journal of medical research, 5(1)
A majority of people would prefer to die at home, but few actually do so, Pennec Sophie, Gaymu Joelle, Riou Françoise, Morand Elisabeth, Pontone Silvia, Aubry Régis, Population & Societies, n° 524, July-August 2015
When physicians report having used medical drugs to deliberately end a patient’s life : findings of the “End-of-life in France” survey, Riou Françoise, Aubry Régis, Pontone Silvia, Pennec Sophie, 2015, Journal of pain and symptom management, 50(2), p. 208‑215.
Les circonstances de la fin de vie, Pennec Sophie, 2014, Actualité et dossier en santé publique, 89, p.15
Le dernier mois de l’existence : les lieux de la fin de vie et de la mort en France, Sophie Pennec, Joëlle Gaymu, Alain Monnier et al., Population, 2013
La fin de vie : le point sur les pratiques médicales en France, Pennec Sophie, Monnier Alain, Pontone Silvia, Aubry Régis, 2013, Gérontologie et société, 145, p. 67‑76
End-of-life medical decisions in France, Pennec Sophie, Monnier Alain, Pontone Silvia, Aubry Régis, Population & Societies, n° 494, November 2012
Minutes of Hearings and Reports
Audition de Mme Sophie Pennec, directrice de recherche à l’Institut national d’études démographiques, Groupe d'études : fin de vie, 29 janvier 2020
Penser solidairement la fin de vie, Rapport de la commission de réflexion sur la fin de vie en France, 18 décembre 2012
Fin de vie : un premier état des lieux, rapport 2011, Observatoire National de la Fin de Vie
Update:March 2023
Dédicated website
Full bibliography
| INED researchers publication on this topic in free access on Archined, INED’s Open Archive. |