[April 22nd, 2005 law of patients' rights and end of life: not a well-known law due to poor communication].
The law number 2005-370 of April 22, 2005, or "Leonetti law", is a very important law for patients' rights and management of the end of life. In spite of its importance, it seems to remain largely unknown to ordinary citizen and even health professionals. In this study, we evaluated the knowledge of this law among general practitioners from Isere (France), and looked at the best communication mode to channel information about the law. The analysis of the content of the 581 answers out of 1050 sent questionnaires (55,3%) confirms the poor knowledge about the law. General practitioners went through a self-evaluation about their knowledge: they estimate they had a rather low knowledge, with a median at 2 over 10. 23% had never heard about the law. Paradoxically, the objective evaluation of their knowledge gives more positive results (below 56,3% per question). However, their mistakes deal with important points of the law: traceability of decisions, trusted person, value of advanced directives, and collegial medical procedure. In addition to accompanying the patient and his family, the role of the general practitioner in respect to this law lies more specifically in helping patients who want to draft early directives or to designate a trusted person. In primary care, tough decisions concerning withholding or withdrawal of treatments should be made collaboratively.
de Bazelaire
Caroline
C
Equipe mobile de soins palliatifs et de coordination en soins de support, CHU de Grenoble, Grenoble. caro_bolze@hotmail.fr
Laval
Guillemette
G
Aubry
Régis
R
D002983:Clinical Competence; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D028701:Patient Rights / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D010820:Physicians; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013727:Terminal Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*