A bill on end-of-life care has returned to the legislative process after its consideration was suspended by French President Emmanuel Macron following the dissolution of parliament last year.
French lawmakers have resumed one of the most polarising debates in the country on the issue of euthanasia.
On Monday, MPs began considering two bills aimed at improving palliative care and legalising euthanasia for adults over the age of 18 with incurable, advanced or terminal illnesses.
This would allow patients to obtain or take a lethal substance themselves or with the help of a doctor.
The proposed law, which would allow access to lethal substances under strict conditions, has sparked heated debate among politicians from all sides.
However, the law stipulates that only patients who are able to freely and clearly express their informed wish to end their life will have the right to die on their own terms. This means that patients with Alzheimer’s disease or those in an irreversible coma cannot be recognised as having the right to die at their own request.
In addition to the requirement that the patient’s request must be made freely and consciously, the bill stipulates that the patient must be suffering from physical or psychological pain that cannot be alleviated by treatment.
Under the current law from 2016, dying patients in France have the right to request that they be kept in deep, continuous sedation until death if their condition causes them “severe suffering.” The use of sedatives and painkillers is permitted, “even if they may shorten a person’s life.”
Suicide tourism on rise
Doctors are allowed to discontinue life-sustaining treatment, including artificial hydration and nutrition. However, assisted dying remains illegal in the country. Because of these restrictions, “suicide tourism” is on the rise. Seriously ill patients who want to end their lives are forced to go to Switzerland, where non-residents are assisted in suicide in medical facilities.
In early September, renowned French film director Jean-Luc Godard died by euthanasia. The 91-year-old classic of the “new wave” committed suicide with outside assistance in Switzerland.
Polls show that the majority of French people are in favour of legalising euthanasia. During his election campaign earlier this year, Macron promised to open a debate on the issue.
World practice
Euthanasia has been legal in the Netherlands since April, 2002. In 2019, 6,361 people died in this way.
In Belgium, euthanasia for adults was decriminalised in May, 2002, and in 2014, the country became the first to legalise the procedure for children. Today, just over 2,000 people a year die by assisted suicide in the country.
The Luxembourg Parliament legalised euthanasia in 2008. In Germany, the Federal Constitutional Court authorised euthanasia in February, 2020.
The Spanish Parliament approved a law on euthanasia in March, 2021. On January 1, 2022, a law legalising euthanasia came into force in Austria.
Euthanasia is legal in the US several states: Oregon (since 1994), Texas (since 1999), Washington (since 2008), Vermont (since 2013), California (since 2015), Colorado, New Jersey (since 2019) and Maine (since 2020).
In Australia, it is legal in Tasmania, Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia and Queensland. In 2018, 221 people travelled to Switzerland for euthanasia, 87 of them from Germany, 31 from France and 24 from the United Kingdom.
