Euthanasia should see the light of day in France.

In an interview published by La Croix and Libération on Sunday March 10, Head of State Emmanuel Macron declared that the government's bill, which will also include a component to strengthen palliative care, will be presented in April to the Council of Ministers. for examination at first reading in the National Assembly in May, before the European elections in June.

It is, he argues, a law "necessary because there are cases that we cannot accept humanly", but also a "law of assembly", "of fraternity" , “which reconciles the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the Nation”.

“With this text, we look death in the face,” he says.

The parliamentary process promises to be long and the outcome will probably not come before 2025.

The subject is sensitive: if several surveys describe French people as mostly in favor of the legalization of a form of assistance in dying, this prospect arouses opposition from religions and a large number of caregivers.

Hence the president's choice to speak simultaneously in a Catholic daily, La Croix, and in another left-wing one, Libération, which has often carried this cause.

Patient “consent”

Changing the end-of-life law of 2016, which allows for “deep and continuous sedation” in the event of intolerable suffering when the vital prognosis is engaged in the short term, was a campaign promise from Emmanuel Macron.

At his request, a citizens' convention, bringing together French people drawn by lot, issued a non-binding opinion in the spring of 2023 for the opening of "active assistance in dying" under conditions.

The bill, which must be sent to the Council of State within ten days, "opens up the possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions", explains the president.

This possibility will only concern adults, provided that they are "capable of full and complete discernment" - which excludes, for example, psychiatric patients or cases of Alzheimer's -, suffering from an "incurable" pathology. with "short or medium term vital prognosis", and suffering from "refractory" suffering that cannot be relieved.

If a patient therefore wishes to access this new "help", they will be able to make a request and will receive the "collegial" opinion of the medical team within fifteen days.

In the event of a favorable opinion, he will be issued a prescription, valid for three months, for a lethal product that he can absorb alone.

Or, when he is unable to do so, particularly in the case of certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Charcot's disease, with the assistance of a member of the medical profession or a volunteer whom he will have designated.

The person can “retract at any time”, specifies the president.

Even if this act can be compared to a form of assisted suicide, he assures that he wanted to avoid this term, or that of euthanasia, because the "consent" of the patient is essential and "the medical decision has its role to play". "with precise criteria".

“There will be opposition”

Anxious not to offend sensitivities, particularly religious ones, Emmanuel Macron agreed to "take the time", displaying his hesitations, organizing a citizens' convention and multiplying dinners to listen to luminaries of ethics, the medical world and cults.

“I took away from these exchanges this legitimate fear that we would assign a value to life, that we would suggest that there would be lives that have become useless. No, never. I believe that the text removes the ambiguities,” he said.

The bill will include measures from the ten-year plan which will be presented at the end of March to strengthen palliative care, which is generally considered insufficient in France.

The president wanted a single text "so as not to suggest that we are providing assisted dying because society is not capable of providing care."

“Over the entire period, we are going to invest a billion euros more,” in addition to the 1.6 billion currently devoted to supportive care, he specifies.

A palliative care unit will be created in each of the 21 departments which still do not have one.

The Head of State estimates, in the interview, that "thousands of people and families are waiting" for this development, but he also recognizes that this law cannot be "totally" consensual.

"I am not naive", "there will be opposition", even "violent attacks", "and we will have to hold on", he insists, while assuring that "this exemplary democratic progress has made it possible to pacify the debate".

With AFP

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