End of life
Assisted dying, euthanasia, assisted suicide… what are we talking about?
French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday March 10 that a bill on “assisted dying” will be presented to the Council of Ministers in April.
But what distinguishes it from euthanasia or assisted suicide?
RFI takes stock.
In France, the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016 allows deep and continuous sedation.
© Getty Images/PhotoAlto/Ale Ventura
By: RFI with AFP
Advertisement
Read more
After long months of waiting, French President
Emmanuel Macron revealed on Sunday in an interview
with the daily newspapers
Libération
and
La Croix
the outlines of the future “
French end-of-life model
”.
The text, which must be presented in April to the Council of Ministers, will be examined from May 27 in the National Assembly.
This support towards the end of life will only be possible under several conditions.
It will be reserved for adults, capable of “
full and complete
” discernment.
People suffering from psychiatric or neurodegenerative illnesses which impair discernment, such as Alzheimer's, are therefore excluded.
They must also be suffering from an incurable illness, with a life-threatening prognosis in the short or medium term, and suffering that is impossible to relieve.
“
The term we have chosen is that of assistance in dying, because it is simple and human and it clearly defines what it is about
,” argues the Head of State, for whom the choice retained is neither that of euthanasia nor that of assisted suicide.
“A deception,” denounces the president of the Conference of Bishops of France.
In an interview with
La Croix
, Mgr Eric de Moulins-Beaufort criticizes a text “
which opens up both assisted suicide and euthanasia
”.
What reality do these different terms cover?
Decryption.
Euthanasia:
The National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) defines it as an “
act intended to deliberately end the life of a person suffering from a serious and incurable illness, at their request, in order to put an end to a situation that 'she finds it unbearable
'.
This therefore requires the intervention of a third party who carries out the fatal gesture.
In Europe, the Netherlands was the first country to legalize euthanasia in 2001. Belgium followed suit the following year.
Euthanasia is today authorized in five European countries: Benelux, Spain and Portugal.
Assisted suicide:
Unlike euthanasia, it is the person themselves who carries out the procedure.
“
Assisted suicide consists of giving a person the means to commit suicide themselves.
In this case, the person commits suicide themselves by absorbing a lethal product which has previously been delivered to them
,” indicates the CCNE.
In Europe, assisted suicide has been legalized in Switzerland since 1942. It is also authorized in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Austria since a law came into force on January 1, 2022.
Assisted dying:
This is therefore the term used by Emmanuel Macron.
A vague term which, according to former MP Jean Leonetti, co-author of the Claeys-Leonetti law on the end of life in 2016, “
can be interpreted as assisted suicide, euthanasia or the development of palliative care
”.
According to the bill unveiled by Emmanuel Macron in his interview with
Libération
and
La Croix
, the administration of the lethal substance will be carried out by the person themselves or, if they are physically incapable, by a volunteer or by the doctor or the nurse who accompanies him.
Deep and continuous sedation:
It consists of permanently putting to sleep incurable patients who are in great pain who wish it, if their vital prognosis is compromised “
in the short term
” by their illness or their decision to stop treatment.
To do this, the patient is injected with midazolam intravenously.
With the simultaneous cessation of hydration and nutrition, specialists estimate that death occurs around a week.
This is currently the only legal way to bring the patient towards the end of life in France.
It is permitted by the Claeys-Leonetti law, which regulates the end of life of incurable patients.
This law provides for the cessation of treatments in the event of "
unreasonable obstinacy
" (or therapeutic relentlessness): if the patient wishes, treatments can be "
suspended
" when they "
appear useless, disproportionate or when they do not any effect other than the simple artificial maintenance of life
.
If the patient cannot express his wishes, the decision must be taken by the doctors in a “
collegial
” manner.
Also read: A brief history of euthanasia and assisted suicide since Antiquity
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your inbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Share :
Continue reading on the same themes:
Health and medicine
France