An incurable patient will be allowed to die live to claim the right to a dignified death in France

Alain Cocq will start dying this Saturday.

And it will broadcast it live on Facebook.

Because he wants everyone to see and, above all, understand, he says, the "agony" of not being able to die in a dignified way when an incurable patient is denied and who wishes to end that suffering the means to do so.

The 57-year-old Frenchman, suffering from a rare degenerative disease, has decided to abandon his treatment and also stop eating and hydrating until his body says enough.

It will not be easy or pleasant.

Cocq himself estimates that it can take four to five days to die.

His decision, taken after a last frustrated attempt - he appealed to the president, Emmanuel Macron - to obtain a guaranteed deep sedation in France only for the terminally ill, has once again reopened the debate on the right to a dignified death.

“As we expected, there will be no gesture of compassion towards Alain Cocq.

As a result, Alain will stop feeding and hydrating, as well as all treatment, as of Saturday, September 5, 2020 at 00.00 ”, announced this Friday, on behalf of Cocq, Nathalie Kurz, president of the association for the help of the disabled

.

The decision was made after Cocq received Macron's refusal to intercede for him, in a letter dated Thursday 3 and signed in his own hand by the president, who despite making it clear that he cannot help, assures him of his "support personal ”and their“ deep respect ”.

“You want to request active help to die that, to this day, is not allowed in our country (…).

Since I am not above the law, I cannot agree to your request, ”explains Macron.

In France, assisted suicide and euthanasia are not legal.

There is only the Claeys-Léonetti law on the end of life, which allows deep sedation of terminal patients, but only in those who suffer "a serious and incurable disease and whose vital prognosis is compromised in the short term."

Cocq has suffered for 34 years from a rare, incurable, degenerative and very painful disease in which the walls of his arteries stick together, causing ischemia (a decrease in blood circulation that causes insufficient blood supply to tissues or organs).

But he has not been able to demonstrate that he is going to die shortly, hence he cannot benefit from the regulations approved in 2016.

Alain Cocq has spent decades defending the rights of the disabled and, also, the right to a dignified death, for which in the past he carried out actions such as traveling through France and parts of Europe in a wheelchair.

However, in recent months his condition has worsened and he can no longer get up from the medicalized bed in which he is bedridden in his home in Dijon.

“My situation is deteriorating more and more.

I am losing my hearing, I am losing my sight, I can see nothing but shapes and, for a few weeks, I have had an electric shock that leaves the brain every three or four seconds and that extends throughout my nervous system to the tips of my fingers. of feet and hands.

It's like my brain is boiling ”, he explained to

and other French media.

That was at the end of August, when he began a "last fight" in the media after sending a letter to Macron asking, "out of compassion", the "right to a dignified death with the active assistance of the medical corps" to provide him with a dose of barbiturates that will not force you to die of hunger and thirst.

In view of the fact that this route has been definitively closed, it only remains for him to abandon all treatment and refuse to be resuscitated, in a death broadcast live with the aim of causing an “electroshock” in society that finally allows France to be authorized assisted suicide, as in Belgium or Switzerland, Sophie Medjeberg, vice president of

, told Agence France Presse

Cocq has chosen her as the legal representative "to continue the fight."

“We must end the ostrich policy.

Eight out of ten French people are in favor of assisted suicide, ”Medjeberg said.

"What kind of secular republic is this that forces you to die as late as possible and with suffering!" Jean-Luc Romero, president of the Association for Dying Worthy, also denounced this Friday, which has launched a campaign to support Cocq on social media under the hashtag #JeSoutiensAlainCocq (support for Alain Cocq).

This case occurs when just one year has passed since the death of another of the symbols in France of the debate on the right to die with dignity, that of Vincent Lambert. The nurse remained tetraplegic and in a vegetative state for more than a decade until, after a long legal battle, his wife and most of his family members managed to get the court to approve him last summer for sedation. deep and stopped feeding until he died, despite the opposition of his parents, who described the medical act as "disguised euthanasia." In Lambert's case, the problem was that he hadn't made a living will stipulating his wishes.