Abstract

According to Father Patrick Verspieren, a Roman Catholic priest and member of the Society of Jesus, the chief duty of the palliative care-giver is to suspend all preconceptions of the incurably ill patient's journey to life's end: "To accompany a dying patient is not to walk ahead of him, or to show him the right path, or to impose an itinerary on him, or even to presume to know what direction he will take. Rather, it consists in walking at the patient's side, leaving him free to choose his own way and the rhythm of his own step". Is it possible, in practice, to suspend one's judgment regarding what is best for a dying patient and to respect the uncharted horizon that presents itself to each dying...