ABSTRACT

In the hospital milieu, daily questions relate to highly invested areas such as quality of life and death issues, choices to continue or stop active treatment, and the legitimacy of those who take part in such decisions. Stemming from an ethnographic study carried out in a hematology-oncology transplant unit in a Montreal pediatric hospital, we discuss the decision-making process (or lack thereof) when a patient faces poor prognosis and the change of trajectory from a curative/disease directed to a palliative perspective. The intricate relationship between science, caregiver, and care receiver sustains action even when (near) death is the probable outcome.

摘要

在医院环境中，日常问题涉及高度投入的领域，例如生死质量问题、继续或停止积极治疗的选择以及参与此类决定的人的合法性。源于在蒙特利尔儿科医院的血液肿瘤移植单位进行的人种学研究，我们讨论了当患者面临预后不良时的决策过程（或缺乏决策过程）以及从治愈/疾病转向的轨迹变化姑息的观点。即使（接近）死亡是可能的结果，科学、照料者和照料者之间错综复杂的关系也能维持行动。