This is a new symbolic step for the debate on assisted dying. The end-of-life bill arrives in the National Assembly chamber on Monday, May 27, for two weeks of debate and a first reading vote scheduled for June 11. Before the deputies delve into examining the text, the final adoption of which is not expected before the summer of 2025, franceinfo answered your questions on the subject.
On assisted dying
@44boloc: Hello! What is the difference between assisted suicide, end of life and euthanasia?
Yann Thompson: Assisted suicide consists, for a patient, of ending their life using a lethal substance prescribed for this purpose. Euthanasia involves a third party, often a doctor, to perform the lethal injection. The government chose not to use either of these two terms, preferring the (criticized) expression of assisted dying. The end of life, on the other hand, does not designate a practice, but a temporality, that of the last page of our existence.
@Pa75: I did not ask to live, I want to be able to decide on my death under the conditions chosen by me whenever I want, even if I do not have an incurable illness. The medical profession is against it, for fear of losing clients?
Part of the medical profession expresses reluctance about assisted dying, not for fear of losing its patients (France has a shortage of caregivers, not patients), but for ethical reasons. For these professionals, their mission is to treat and not to end life. Note, however, that there are doctors who are in favor of assisted dying and even, sometimes, who campaign for a less restrictive bill than the one currently being debated. Some of them came together within a collective, called For Solidarity Care Support.
@jidge: Why should political or religious groups have the right to decide how I want to leave this life when I am sick and in pain? I am a tenant of my own body and wish to break the lease whenever I wish without binding law.
Know that you are not alone in wanting a framework as broad as possible: within the Citizens’ Convention on the end of life, 22% of participants defended this line of “universal” access to assisted dying. , without any other condition than the patient’s wishes. This school of thought is, however, in the minority, including in the National Assembly, where almost everyone agrees on the need to impose certain conditions. The majority line consists of finding a balance between each person’s autonomy of decision and the imperative of solidarity within society, which must help everyone to live better (and not to die, especially when we are not at the end of of life).
@PhilNelB: If the vital prognosis is in the short term, why want to further accelerate the movement towards death? Patience !
Even with a short-term vital prognosis, that is to say an expected death in the next few hours or days, assisted dying can be seen as a solution to escape unbearable suffering. In the current state of the law, patients faced with such situations can only request deep and continuous sedation, maintained until death, which is similar to a form of coma, a still little-known practice that I presented to you in this article.
On the consequences of assisted dying
@Pownrend: Many countries allow assisted suicide, their society has not imploded, why does reluctance persist?
In France, some opponents of assisted dying rightly highlight “drifts” observed, according to them, abroad. It is difficult to predict the consequences that the French text could have, given that it will be a unique model, which will apply in a context and a health system different from other countries. And I am personally quite surprised by the lack of research carried out in countries that have already legislated, which makes it difficult to analyze the consequences of assisted dying on a societal scale.
@Ô: Hello. Isn’t it dangerous for the State to legislate on the end of life? Tomorrow, what will he do with it, in the name of overpopulation or otherwise? Remember a few years ago, an MP from the north of France asked the question at the time of the pension fund deficit.
Opponents of this bill point out, like you, the risk of “drifts”, because they fear that assistance in dying will gradually be extended to other groups (minors, elderly people who are healthy but tired of living, etc.). I do not have a crystal ball, but I would like to recall an important point in the current text: the procedure can only be initiated at the express and repeated request of the patient, without the State being able to impose anything. it would be.
@Viob: If the law on end of life does not suit me, I will try to go abroad.
It is a safe bet, in fact, that patients who do not meet the criteria set out in the text voted in France will continue to go into exile to benefit from euthanasia or assisted suicide abroad. Hence the interest, according to supporters of assisted dying, in not excluding certain categories of patients, such as Charcot patients, whose vital prognosis is not necessarily compromised in the short or medium term. On the other hand, foreign patients will not be able to come to our soil to benefit from the French system, because the bill requires“be of French nationality” or “reside stably and regularly in France”.
On the role of caregivers
@Berard Valerie: I am a nurse and I believe a lot in the development of palliative care. I don’t want to end someone’s life voluntarily. Will the law include a conscience clause for caregivers?
A conscience clause is clearly included in thesection 16 Bill. A healthcare professional may refuse to participate in an assisted dying procedure, provided they inform “without delay” the patient and to communicate the name of caregivers “disposed” to support him in his approach. To facilitate this orientation, professionals will have access to a list of volunteer caregivers.
@cyclo_ecolo: I learned that a list of doctors practicing active assistance in dying is planned. What guarantees are provided so that they are not harassed like the abortion centers in certain US states?
There are no plans to make this list public. The bill specifies that voluntary professionals will have to declare themselves to a commission, which will develop “a register accessible only to doctors”. Furthermore, the bill resulting from the committee, on which the deputies are preparing to work, provides for sanctioning any attempt with a maximum of one year in prison. “to prevent practicing or finding out about assisted dying”. This offense of obstruction, inspired by that which already exists in matters of abortion, could particularly apply in the event of “pressures” on caregivers, patients or relatives.
On palliative care
@Scroum: For the end of life, is there a link made with the failure of the State to put in place palliative care, the question of which should be prior to assistance in dying?
Many opponents of the bill actually believe that it is premature to legislate on assisted dying when access to palliative care, a right enshrined in law since 1999, is still far from being guaranteed across the board. territory. The government responds that its new ten-year plan for the development of palliative care will make it possible to remedy these shortcomings, for example by providing each department with a palliative care unit by the end of 2025 (i.e. the potential deadline for entry into in force of assisted dying in France).
@Delivet Frédéric: Administering drugs and sedatives is not treatment and only serves to prolong the suffering…
You are not going to make friends among palliative care professionals! You are of course free to make your own judgment, but I remind you that palliative care is far from being limited to the administration of treatments. They integrate a multidisciplinary dimension, particularly psychological, which the government intends to strengthen by highlighting a new concept in this bill: that of “supportive care”.
On the legislative calendar
@Serge65690: How can I satisfy the request of my partner’s mother who asks to leave? Since her hip operation, she can no longer walk, spends her days sitting or lying down, pain centers and palliative care are absent, and the doctor at the nursing home no longer knows what to do. So politicians, hurry up!
Thank you for your testimony, which highlights the difficulties of access to palliative care and pain assessment and treatment centers. Concerning your mother-in-law, whose pathology I do not know, I can only emphasize that dependence will not be a sufficient criterion for access to assistance in dying. As the text stands, it will be necessary in particular to achieve a “serious and incurable condition in an advanced or terminal phase”. Final adoption of the bill is not expected before summer 2025. All my support to you and your family.
@Davee: Hello, you say that the law could be adopted in mid-2025, but do we have information on the time frame for implementing these protocols after the law is passed? Because some people are already waiting for this major breakthrough and fear not being able to use it soon enough…
That’s a great question. Everything will depend on the eagerness of the executive to publish the implementing decrees which will contain the practical details allowing the text to be applied. We will also have to look at the High Authority for Health, which will be responsible for defining the lethal substances that can be used for assisted dying.