Requests for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

Palliative Care Clinical Trial

— DESA  

Official title:

Requests for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: a Prospective, Multicenter and Qualitative Study of Their Frequency and Characteristics, of Patients' Motivations and Their Evolution

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02845817
• Other study ID #: DESA
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: July 18, 2016
• Last updated: July 26, 2016
• Start date: September 2014
• Est. completion date: June 2015

Study information

• Verified date: July 2016
• Source: Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Besancon
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: France: Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament et des produits de santé
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study take place in the palliative care units of Burgundy-Franche-Comté regions and at the Maison Médicale Jeanne Garnier. The main aim of this project is to analyze and understand the meaning of explicit requests to hasten death (euthanasia and assisted suicide).

This involves conducting interviews with patients, carers to whom the request has been expressed and a relative chosen by the patient. This study aims to describe the request over time. This will be done through two series of interviews, one as soon as it is first expressed, then one week later.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 31
• Est. completion date: June 2015
• Est. primary completion date: June 2015
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adult not under guardianship or curatorship,

• Hospitalized in palliative care units of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region and in the Maison Médicale Jeanne Garnier in Paris,

• At the end of life due to advanced stage disease or a major change in the state of health of an elderly person,

• They have made an explicit request for euthanasia or assisted suicide,

• They are in capacity to meet researchers for interview,

• Having consented to interviews,

• They are covered by the French social security system.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Adult under guardianship or curatorship,

• They are underage,

• They are not hospitalized in Palliative Care Unit of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region and in the Maison Médicale Jeanne Garnier,

• The request was expressed by another person or not explicit,

• They didn't consent to interviews,

• The request appears in the context of a situation other than illness or a general change in state of health

• They are not in capacity to meet researchers for interviews.

Study Design

Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment, Masking: Open Label

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Assisted Suicide
• End of Life
• Euthanasia
• Palliative Care
• Qualitative Research
• Suicide
• Suicide, Assisted

Intervention

Other:
• Qualitative research
Semi-structured interviews

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
France	CHRU Besançon - Palliative Care Unit	Besançon	Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Besancon	Maison Médicale Jeanne Garnier

Country where clinical trial is conducted

France, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	70 semi-structured interviews	Qualitative data analysis - Theoretical concept saturation and thematic analyses. [analyze and understand the meaning of explicit requests to hasten death (euthanasia and assisted suicide)]	12 months	No