Paediatric palliative medicine issues in 2016

A child's serious illness is a rare event in our Western societies, and inexpressible as it is `unnatural' and `unfair', in the light of the progress of science. It raises important emotional reactions among all those who are involved, from near and far: the sick child, their relatives, health workers who accompany them, and society at large. The therapeutic alliance with the child and his/her family is built throughout the illness in a context of uncertainty, related to disease and prognosis, and vulnerability, linked to the fact that the disease affects a child. Paediatric palliative medicine is so differently organized to adult palliative medicine: it is applied in all places of the life of a child in a situation of serious illness. The objective of this article is to present issues of paediatric palliative medicine in France in 2016: issues for children, for parents, for care stakeholders, and to consider broader and developing issues. (C) 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.