Based on fieldwork carried out in a hospital internal medicine department, Agathe Camus examines conceptions of health and autonomy and the ‘new norms’ of medical decision-making in acute care cases involving chronically ill, frail or multi-morbid patients. It analyses a number of complex care situations, examining the links between circumstances and medical decisions. Several concepts - shared decision-making, evidence-based medicine, evidence-based patient choice, the logic of choice, the logic of care, empowerment - are also presented.
The author shows that, in the context of chronicity, the therapeutic or ‘crisis management’ logic of acute medicine must coexist with the perspective of medicine as a means of supporting living with illness. It calls for medical decisions to be reconsidered as genuine care work , aimed above all at preserving a certain ‘latitude of life’ for people who will never recover, and whose lives are permanently marked by illness, disability or frailty.
Combining philosophy with an empirical approach, the author draws on a wealth of personal accounts and studies to set out her observations and proposals in a clear, fluid style. This book will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers in the humanities and social sciences, as well as health professionals and students.
Agathe Camus est docteure en épistémologie, histoire des sciences et des techniques de l’université Paris Cité. Elle est actuellement post-doctorante au laboratoire S2HEP, à l’université Claude-Bernard Lyon 1, et chercheuse associée à SPHERE 7219, UMR 7210.
