92

This paper intends to explore the ethical dimension of end-of-life situations and to shed light on its implications for public health policy. This exploration is based on a contextualized philosophical approach, here in the French context. First, it resituates how the end of life first became an object of public discussion and then of legislation. Later on, it discusses how ethical issues about end-of-life are framed by clinical research and social sciences and humanities, particularly with regard to vulnerable population groups and so-called “difficult” medical decisions. Thirdly, it shows that the analysis must go further, by questioning the key ethical and legal notion of “accompagnement” (support), in order to uncover the debates hidden by the apparent consensus about it. Finally, the ethics of care invites us to question the current limits of public health policies concerning the end of life, with regard to their general meaning, but also to their actual means and the ways they combine private care and public action.