EXCLUSIVE – In his work End of life diary (Fayard), the palliative care doctor in Narbonne recounts her back and forth between patients and the political world, at a time when the government wanted to legalize induced death.
Anthropologist Margaret Mead dates the beginnings of civilization to the discovery of a welded human femur. An animal that breaks a leg dies. It cannot flee from predators, hunt, or move to drink. No animal can therefore survive long enough for its leg to heal, and this applies to humans. But we found a broken femur then repaired. This means that another individual cared for, protected and fed the injured person long enough for the wound to heal.
Helping someone vulnerable, dependent, that’s the beginning of civilization. It is not the technique used to repair this femur that makes civilization, but rather the concern to help another human made fragile by an accident of life. We, caregivers, and particularly in palliative care, are placed at the forefront of civilization since it is the most fragile, the most vulnerable who are entrusted to us.
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