Part four: Health professions

I. – The decision to limit or stop treatment shall respect the patient’s wishes as previously expressed in advance directives. When the patient is incapable of expressing his or her wishes, the decision to limit or stop the treatment provided, on the grounds of refusing unreasonable obstinacy, may only be taken following the collegiate procedure provided for in article L. 1110-5-1 and in compliance with the advance directives and, in…

I.-At the patient’s request, in the situations provided for in 1° and 2° of Article L. 1110-5-2, deep and continuous sedation causing an alteration in consciousness maintained until death, associated with analgesia and the cessation of all life-sustaining treatment, shall be used following a collegiate procedure, as defined in III of Article R. 4127-37-2, the purpose of which is to check that the conditions provided for by law are met….

The doctor supports the patient in accordance with the principles and conditions set out in article R. 4127-38. He also ensures that the patient’s family and friends are informed of the situation and receive the necessary support.

The doctor must accompany the dying person until his or her last moments, ensure the quality of a life that is coming to an end through appropriate care and measures, safeguard the dignity of the patient and comfort those around him or her. They do not have the right to deliberately bring about death.

Doctors may not suggest to patients or their relatives that a remedy or procedure that is illusory or insufficiently tested is beneficial or safe. Any practice of charlatanism is prohibited.

The doctor must refrain, in the investigations and interventions he carries out as well as in the therapies he prescribes, from exposing the patient to an unjustified risk.

No mutilating operation may be carried out without very serious medical grounds and, unless it is an emergency or impossible, without the patient’s knowledge and consent.

Subject to the provisions of article L. 1111-5, a doctor called upon to provide care to a minor must endeavour to inform his parents or legal representative and obtain their consent. If the minor is capable of expressing his wishes and participating in the decision, his consent must also be sought. A doctor called upon to provide care to an adult who is the subject of a legal protection measure…

The doctor must act as the child’s advocate when he or she feels that the interests of the child’s health are being misunderstood or misguided by those around him or her.

When a doctor becomes aware that a person to whom he or she is called is being abused or deprived, he or she must take the most appropriate steps to protect that person by exercising prudence and circumspection. In the case of a minor or a person who is unable to protect himself because of his age or physical or mental state, he shall alert the judicial or administrative authorities,…