The parents of a boy with leukemia demanded that doctors give him chemotherapy while the latter advocated palliative treatment.
It is possible to refuse treatment but in this case, patients cannot require the care establishment to provide the treatment of their choice, recalls the Council of State. In a decision rendered on July 28, the summary judge recalled that “it is up to the doctors to choose to administer one treatment rather than another” taking into account the “risks incurred” and the “benefits. expected ”.
The highest French court was seized by the family of a child with leukemia. She demanded that the Montpellier University Hospital administer curative chemotherapy to their son, while the doctors advocated, in a collegial manner, palliative treatment.
Little Lucas, 11, suffers from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, one of the most aggressive cancers. Diagnosed in February 2016, the young boy fell into a coma the following month due to herpetic encephalitis. It was not until May 2017 that he managed to walk again. On the other hand, language disorders persist because the neurological sequelae are too important.
Too much suffering for the child
And while the parents think they have lived the hardest, Lucas’s leukemia resurfaces. The Montpellier doctors believe that at this stage, chemotherapy is not the most appropriate treatment, “given the very high probability of its uselessness, on the one hand, and the great suffering as well as the high risks involved. ‘it would lead, on the other hand,’ explain the Sages of the Royal Palace.
In consultation with doctors from the University Hospital of Nice and Marseille, the Montpellier team suggests Lucas’s parents start a palliative treatment. In disagreement, the latter seized the administrative court of Montpellier at the beginning of the summer. Justice ruled in favor of doctors.
A court decision confirmed by the Council of State, but incomprehensible to the family. “With the treatment offered to him, we ensure that he dies slowly,” said the lawyer for Lucas’s parents, Françoise Fabiani. Parents could choose another health facility for their son’s follow-up.
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