Book I: Health protection for individuals

At the patient’s request to avoid all suffering and not to be subjected to unreasonable obstinacy, deep and continuous sedation causing altered consciousness maintained until death, combined with analgesia and the cessation of all life-sustaining treatments, is implemented in the following cases: 1° When a patient suffering from a serious and incurable disease with a short-term life-threatening prognosis is experiencing suffering that is refractory to treatment; 2° When the decision…

Everyone has the right to receive treatment and care aimed at relieving their suffering. In all circumstances, this suffering must be prevented, taken into account, assessed and treated. The doctor must use all analgesic and sedative treatments to respond to the refractory suffering of the patient in an advanced or terminal phase, even if they may have the effect of shortening life. He must inform the patient of this, without…

School-age children are entitled to appropriate schooling in health establishments, as far as the conditions of their hospitalisation allow.

The assessment provided for in Article L. 6113-2 and the certification provided for in Article L. 6113-3 take into account the measures taken by health care organisations to ensure respect for the rights of patients and the results obtained in this respect. Health establishments shall report on these actions and their results as part of the information transmitted to the regional health agencies.

The patient’s right to free choice of practitioner and healthcare establishment and of the method of care, whether outpatient or at home, in particular where palliative care is involved within the meaning of article L. 1110-10, is a fundamental principle of health legislation. Limitations imposed on this principle by the various social protection schemes may only be introduced in consideration of the technical capacity of the establishments, their pricing system…

Anyone who is ill and whose condition so requires has the right to palliative care and support.

Palliative care is active, ongoing care provided by an interdisciplinary team in an institution or at home. Its aim is to relieve pain, ease mental suffering, preserve the dignity of the patient and support those close to the patient.

Volunteers, trained in end-of-life care and belonging to associations that select them, may, with the agreement of the patient or their relatives and without interfering with medical and paramedical care, assist the care team by taking part in the patient’s final care and by supporting the psychological and social environment of the patient and their relatives. Associations that organise the work of volunteers draw up a charter defining the principles…

For the purposes of this Title, a care team is a group of professionals who participate directly on behalf of the same patient in the performance of a diagnostic or therapeutic act, the compensation of disability, the relief of pain or the prevention of loss of autonomy, or in the actions necessary for the coordination of several of these acts, and who: 1° Either work in the same health establishment,…

The aim of health mediation and language interpreting is to improve access to rights, prevention and care for people who are far from the prevention and care systems, by taking their specific needs into account. Standards of competence, training and good practice define and provide a framework for the procedures to be followed by those implementing or participating in health mediation or language interpreting schemes, as well as the role…