Requests for Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Epidemiological study conducted as part of the implementation of a structuring network

The public debate surrounding the end of life is still ongoing, but to date there are no prospective data to fuel these discussions.

The aims of the epiDESA2 study are 1 / to identify the number of requests for early death formulated, 2 / to describe the characteristics of patients expressing a request and their motivations, 3 / to describe the evolution of these requests over one week.

The epiDESA2 study is observational and prospective by filling out questionnaires (socio-demographic and medical data) when the request is expressed, two days and then one week after the request is formulated. The study concerns all patients at the end of life who expressed a request for active assistance in dying to a healthcare professional, wherever the request was expressed (at home, in a medico-social or healthcare setting) in a French region over a one-year period. A descriptive statistical analysis was carried out.

The epiDESA2 study was approved by the Comité de Protection des Personnes and authorized by the CNIL.