Therapeutic ideologies of the end of life: for a factory of the hyper-vulnerability of the dying

Authors

  • Laurence Bréau Avignon Université

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14428/rcompro.vi17.83803

Keywords:

thanatopower, hyper-vulnerability, cancer, end of life

Abstract

Within the hospital institution, the confrontation of two therapeutic ideologies underlying end-of-life communication and care practices has a strong impact on the care trajectory of patients who have become incurable. The dying person, considered the vulnerable being par excellence, is then invested by antagonistic discourses and healthcare practices. From a critical perspective, this will involve questioning the place of the dying and their vulnerability, and more precisely, the making of their “hyper-vulnerability” (Poché, 2016): the essentialization of vulnerability in strategies does care contribute to the “hyper-vulnerability” of patients at the end of life through the institutional expropriation of their autonomy?

             

 

Author Biography

Laurence Bréau, Avignon Université

Laurence Bréau est Maître de conférences à l’ITIC (Institut des Technosciences de l’Information et de la communication) – Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3, et Chercheure au LERASS (Laboratoire d’Études et de Recherches Appliquées en Sciences Sociales).

Ses recherches en sciences de l’information et de la communication portent sur la fin de vie des patients atteints de cancer. Elle s'intéresse plus particulièrement aux problématiques communicationnelles onco-palliatives inhérentes à la trajectoire de la maladie incurable. Elle a publié un ouvrage, issu de son travail doctoral, publié en 2022, intitulé « Les soins palliatifs à l’épreuve de la communication ». Ses recherches se poursuivent actuellement dans deux directions : au niveau macro/méso, les enjeux institutionnels de la thanatopolitique contemporaine, et au niveau micro, la co-construction de dispositifs d’aide à la décision médicale. Son approche systémique et compréhensive vise à analyser l’interaction des différents dispositifs (juridiques, institutionnels, techniques, architecturaux, discursifs) qui encadrent et construisent la trajectoire de soins du cancer incurable.

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Published

2026-02-10

Issue

No. 17 (2025): Fabrique des vulnérabilités et communication organisationnelle

Section

Dossier

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Laurence Bréau

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