Even on paper, a patient's “advance directives” can be overridden by a doctor.
This is what the Constitutional Council said on Thursday.
This crucial decision comes at a time when Emmanuel Macron has decided to relaunch the debate on the end of life.
It concerns a patient from Valenciennes (North), plunged into a coma since May following an accident and whose family opposes the doctors, who consider his situation hopeless.
The medical team wishes to stop the treatment but would go against the intentions expressed by the patient in his “advance directives”.
This situation is provided for by the law of 2016, which gives doctors the right to choose in fine.
She considers, in fact, that the directives no longer apply if they appear “inappropriate or not in accordance with the medical situation of the patient”.
It was on the validity of this law that the Constitutional Council had to decide, seized after several legal defeats by the patient's family, assisted by an association.
And he finally approved this law without reservation, confirming in fact the power of doctors to circumvent the written wishes of patients in certain cases.
For the high court, the legislator was in its role by providing this way out for doctors, in particular because the patient cannot be fully able to assess his situation upstream.
A nuance that will fuel the debate
Advance directives, which anyone can decide to write, are a written document in which a person says how much they wish to be kept alive, in case they find themselves one day unable to express their choice.
Few French people have recourse to it, whereas it is a particularly important tool to guide the action of the doctor.
Many health professionals believe that these guidelines would often prevent inextricable cases of conscience.
However, they do not solve all situations, as shown by the painful dispute which had to be decided on Thursday.
By qualifying the role of advance directives, the decision of the Constitutional Council is likely to fuel public debates that have just been relaunched in France.
The end of life does indeed regularly resurface controversies, in particular compared to other European countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands but also Spain, where the legislation has changed in recent years to authorize the euthanasia of framed manner.
Without taking a personal position on the subject, the President of the Republic has entrusted the reflection on a possible change in legislation to a citizens' convention which is to meet from December.
Composed of 150 French people in the process of being drawn by lot, it will formulate proposals next spring which will be supposed to guide the choices of the State.
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