Requests for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide

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

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02845817

Acronym

DESA

Enrollment

Registered

2016-07-27

Start date

2014-09-30

Completion date

2015-06-30

Last updated

2016-07-27

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

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

Brief 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.

Interventions

OTHERQualitative research

Semi-structured interviews

Study design

Allocation

Intervention model

SINGLE_GROUP

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to No maximum

Healthy volunteers

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.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
70 semi-structured interviews	12 months	Qualitative data analysis - Theoretical concept saturation and thematic analyses. \[analyze and understand the meaning of explicit requests to hasten death (euthanasia and assisted suicide)\]

Countries

France

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026