End of life: suffering from an incurable disease, Alain Cocq will let himself die live
Alain Cocq, 57, had asked Emmanuel Macron for deep sedation.
RFI / Maud Charlet
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
His death will be broadcast live on Facebook from this Saturday, September 5.
Alain Cocq, a 57-year-old Frenchman suffering from an incurable disease, has decided to stop all treatment.
He had asked the French head of state Emmanuel Macron for the right to die.
But the President of the Republic refused him.
Alain Cocq therefore wants "to show the French what the agony required by the Leonetti law is".
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"
To put an end to the pain for good
": this is Alain Cocq's sole wish.
He had entrusted it to RFI at the
end of August.
It has been a year and a half since this Frenchman, now aged 57, has not been able to leave his bed.
Suffering from a degenerative disease, every movement makes him suffer.
He hoped that the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron would allow him to be prescribed a barbiturate in order to shorten his suffering.
But in France, deep sedation is only authorized at the very end of life, when death is certain.
Faced with the refusal of Emmanuel Macron, who replied in a letter on Thursday September 3 that he was "
not above the law
" and could not "
accede to (his) request
", Alain Cocq therefore decided to stop eating, stop drinking, and stop all medical treatment except painkillers.
His death live on Facebook
“
I decided to say stop.
(...) Little by little, all the vital organs will be affected.
If it's to look at the ceiling like an idiot waiting for it to happen, no,
”he told AFP.
The 57-year-old from Dijon could have gone to Switzerland or Belgium, for example, where assisted suicide is legal.
But he couldn't afford it.
Above all, the one who militates for the right to die "
with dignity
" and who has made several tours of Europe in a wheelchair to raise awareness on this cause, wants to alert on the inadequacies of the Leonetti law for sick people.
That's why he decided to broadcast his last days on social networks.
With this action, Alain Cocq wants "to
show the French what the agony required by
the Leonetti law is
".
He estimates that it will take him "
four-five
" days to die from Saturday September 5th.
► (Re) listen: Is the end of life well understood in France?
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