Case study: Narrative ethics and support for a parental request for euthanasia in the Belgian context

In Belgium, euthanasia is defined as such in the law: "the act, carried out by a third party [the doctor], which intentionally puts an end to the life of a person [the patient] at that person's request". It is not a right and its practice is only decriminalised if the process governing it are strictly followed. However, there is a real difference between the number of requests and the number of their actual enactment. Part of this disparity stems from the fact that requests do not always come from patients, which makes them ipso facto legally invalid. Thus, based on a clinical case of a parental request for euthanasia in the Belgian context, a mobile paediatric palliative care team reflects on the issues and resources required to support these situations going beyond the legal framework. Accompanied by an ethicist specialised in clinical ethics, their work highlights the guidelines for reflection, coordination and implementation of care offered by narrative theories. To do this, they propose the original intersection of the work of the French philosopher Paul Ricoeur on narrative identity and of Dr. Rita Charon of Columbia University on narrative medicine. The intersection of the field and these two approaches to narrativity gives rise to a set of guidelines that combine practical wisdom and care competence. It opens up a semantic field capable of naming and accompanying the narratives of people and care faced with the end of life. (c) 2023 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.