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End of life: a divisive bill
End of life: a divisive bill
(France 2)
On Monday, May 27, deputies began examining the bill on assisted dying. The text has already been modified by a special committee of the Assembly and opens the right to a larger number of patients. However, it is debated.
Asking to end one’s life when the pain is no longer bearable or when there is no longer any hope of recovery: assistance in dying is examined from Monday May 27 by deputies. There would be five conditions to use it: being of age and having all your mental faculties, suffering from an incurable illness in the advanced or terminal phase, and the suffering must be considered unbearable.
But one of the criteria is debated, because the first version of the text was reworked. Initially, the patient had to be suffering from a “serious and incurable condition with a life-threatening condition in the short or medium term”. A “serious and incurable condition in the advanced or terminal phase” is now necessary.
Opponents of this bill consider the new criterion too vague. Another point of tension: who administers the lethal product? Originally this was going to be the patient, unless they were unable to do so. From now on, he could ask a caregiver or a loved one to assist him in any case. Defenders of the right to die welcome progress. MEPs have until June 11 to reach an agreement on the reform.
