Thursday April 8, a bill could authorize active assistance in dying in France.
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The health crisis has highlighted
the fact that people die badly in France.
It is in this particular context that several bills have emerged, in the Assembly as in the Senate, to complete the Clays-Leonetti law of 2016, which authorizes continuous sedation but no active assistance in dying.
This Thursday, a bill must be debated in the Assembly.
It aims to authorize active assistance in dying in a particular context: the patient must request it, if he is suffering from an incurable disease and no treatment can relieve it.
“We are a family with a Catholic tradition, but euthanasia has always been a subject that has been freely discussed,” says Arnaud Canivez, 32 years old.
When in 2018, my father learned that he had Charcot's disease, he assured that he wanted to end his life in Switzerland.
It's easy to be for assisted suicide, but when it affects a loved one, we ask ourselves the question: is it nonsense?
In September 2019, Arnaud accompanied his father to this neighboring country, so that he could benefit from assisted suicide.
A choice still impossible in France.
This Thursday, the National Assembly will discuss a bill that would allow active assistance in dying.
“It would be a huge step forward,” says Arnaud Canivez.
But the text is not guaranteed to pass.
A "free and chosen end of life"
It is the deputy Olivier Falorni (Libertés et Territoires group) who carries the bill establishing a right to “a free and chosen end of life”.
She is defended by rebellious deputies, Communists, Socialists, LREM, and even a deputy LR.
"For the first time, we see a trans-partisan majority emerge, it is quite rare", greets Arnaud Canivez.
For five years, the Claeys-Leonetti law has allowed deep and continuous sedation, which can lead to death, but without active euthanasia.
Olivier Falorni's proposal provides that "any capable person of full age, in an advanced or terminal phase of a serious and incurable disease, whatever the cause, causing physical or psychological suffering which cannot be appeased or which deems unbearable ”, can ask for“ medical assistance ”to die“ by active assistance ”.
A term which encompasses two situations: either the patient is able to open the infusion which helps him to die, or it is the doctor who does it.
In a few hours, it's over.
The patient who is the sole decision-maker
“Today, continuous sedation only occurs in the last few days, we are already in a phase of agony,” summarizes Philippe Lohéac, general delegate of the Association for the Right to Die in Dignity (ADMD) .
The medical profession makes a decision to undernourish, dehydrate, give medication and wait for the patient to die of severe kidney failure.
Vincent Lambert took nine days to die… ”And Philippe Lohéac evoked the distress of those close to him.
“The 2016 law creates insecurity for everyone.
The patient is unsure whether he will die without pain, relatives see the person dying of hunger and thirst, and the doctors do not know what they can or cannot do.
"
Another change: while today, a relative or a doctor can oppose advance directives, Olivier Falorni's text provides on the contrary that the decision be made by the patient.
If he is unconscious, we refer to his advance directives.
And if there isn't, his trusted person would decide.
"The patient's request [for active assistance in dying] must be validated by a panel of three doctors, who ensure that the person is at the end of life and aware of his choice", reassures Jean-Louis Touraine, deputy LREM which defends this bill.
Finally, the patient can reconsider his decision.
“The words of patients would be heard and respected,” he sums up.
Today, 2,000 to 4,000 French people are the subject of a shortening of their lives without their knowledge.
In contrast, patients who want to be relieved of agony may be asleep, but wither away for days.
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Parliamentary obstruction?
As before, this new debate on euthanasia is causing a stir.
The text, which results from a pooling of several bills, was voted in the Social Affairs Committee by a clear majority.
Problem: 3,000 amendments have been tabled, including a majority by five Les Républicains deputies.
As the text is being studied within the framework of a parliamentary niche, it must be voted on before Thursday midnight.
“Clearly, they are playing for time, regrets Philippe Lohéac.
The functioning of our secular republic is blocked by the religious convictions of five deputies.
"
In a column published in the last
Journal du Dimanche
, 270 deputies of all stripes rebelled against the guerrillas which were announced by way of amendments.
But opponents of the text consider it premature to consider going any further while the Claeys-Leonetti law is still poorly applied.
“The fundamental error is to oppose deep sedation, palliative care, euthanasia and active aid in dying, nuance Arnaud Canivez.
The observation that the Leonetti law is not respected, I share it.
But, even if applied in full, it would not respond to some cases, where deep sedation is not an answer.
"
If the timing of this Thursday was exceeded, would the debate then be closed?
"If the text is not voted, Christophe Castaner [president of the LREM group in the Assembly] should ask the executive that it be included either in a bill of a majority group LREM or Agir, or as a government bill, ”Jean-Louis Touraine tells us.
The Covid-19 shed light on the problem of French "badly dying"
For the deputy LREM, there is no doubt, "French society is ready and even impatient".
And to recall that the first bill on euthanasia dates back to… 1978. “Since then, society has progressed, we live longer, but prolonged agonies are a flip side of the progress of medicine.
People cannot stand to see their loved ones suffer for a long time.
In 2019, an Ifop poll revealed that 96% of French people believed that French legislation should allow doctors to end, without suffering, the lives of people who request it.
“This conviction was reinforced when they had relatives who experienced miserable ends of life during the Covid-19.
"
"Usually, we have transparent deaths," adds Philippe Louhéac.
This time, we have testimonials.
Because advance directives are unrecognized, caregivers intubate patients without knowing if they want to.
These special conditions show the ineffectiveness of the law in fulfilling its role and responding to the anxieties of the French.
“Especially with confinements, the choice to die abroad, even for families who have the means, is no longer one.
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A French delay?
The right to assisted suicide or euthanasia is granted in Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Spain legalized euthanasia on March 18 and Portugal is expected to follow suit.
"France risks remaining behind," sighs Philippe Lohéac, of ADMD.
Covid 19
Society
Euthanasia
Health
End of life