The Luxembourg association for the promotion of palliative care and grief counselling, Omega 90, presented its annual report on Thursday.
In 2025, 111 patients received care at the Maison Omega, with a higher number of admissions in the 31-to-60 age bracket than in previous years. Nearly 1,300 people benefited from the association's counselling services, of whom approximately one third were children.
Omega 90 director Nicole Weis-Liefgen emphasised the importance of speaking openly with children about illness and death. She noted that children often construct their own scenarios based on what they perceive – "and unfortunately, this is often worse than what actually happened".
She added that children, and sometimes even adolescents, may hesitate to express their feelings for fear of causing additional distress to their parents or surviving parent.
Last year, €9.1 million were invested in Omega 90's services, with the majority of funding coming from the National Health Fund (CNS) and the Ministry of Family Affairs. Donations accounted for 9% of the budget, explained director Fabian Weiser.
"This is mainly used to fund more nursing staff, because the allocation we receive from the CNS is, in our opinion, not sufficient to provide high-quality care to patients", he stated.
The issue of euthanasia and palliative care was raised during a debate in the Chamber of Deputies in April, with the observation that the public needed to be better informed on these subjects. Omega 90 president Diane Duhr argued that it is essential to set aside emotions in such discussions and allow specialists to speak, as this enables everyone to form a more informed opinion.
In her view, expressing emotions and feelings alone does little to advance societal debate. "However, we must talk about it, because if we continue to sweep these questions under the carpet, we won't move forward either", Duhr said.
Unlike France, where the bill on assisted dying is far from being adopted, Luxembourg has very favourable legislation regarding palliative care, according to director Nicole Weis-Liefgen. She noted that most countries do not have a palliative care law as comprehensive as Luxembourg's.
The country's law notably provides that there is no obligation to resort to life-prolonging measures – a provision Weis-Liefgen described as positive. "How will people die if we constantly resort to life-prolonging measures?" she asked.
Without such obligation, she argued, people can also die more peacefully. "If, on the other hand, I practically force the doctor to continue treatments indefinitely, I create problems that would not otherwise exist", the director of Omega 90 concluded.
