The draft version of the end-of-life bill that was leaked last week has drawn the ire of caregivers. In particular, the text provides for the possibility of resorting to important conditions for assisted suicide or even euthanasia. "This text immediately aroused our concern and anger by the proposals it contains," some 20 trade unions and healthcare workers' organisations wrote in a joint text, denouncing a "travesty of consultation" with healthcare workers.
While they had an appointment in the early morning with the Minister Delegate for Health Professions, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, who has been overseeing the project for months, they decided to boycott this meeting, they said at a press conference. According to the minister's entourage, thirteen other caregivers' organizations were present at the meeting.
Meeting with the health professionals who have been with us for a year on the work around the end of life.
The 14th already, which testifies to my desire to maintain dialogue. Peaceful exchanges on the presentation of Professor Franck Chauvin's report and the timetable. pic.twitter.com/sq1bT19QMu
— Agnès Firmin Le Bodo (@agnesfirmin) December 18, 2023
The bill, initially promised for the end of the summer, is finally scheduled for the end of February 2024. The government is facing a particularly sensitive issue. While several opinion polls consider the majority of French people to be in favour of legalising assisted dying, this prospect is opposed by religions and a large number of caregivers.
'Open contempt' for caregivers
The organizations that boycotted the meeting are critical of many points in the draft bill, which provides that a single doctor bears the responsibility of accepting or refusing the request to be assisted in dying. One term in particular is causing anger: "first aid in reverse." This means that a caregiver will be able to hasten death if the administration of the lethal substance goes wrong. "We cannot condone the contempt shown for" health workers, the protesters said.
"We ask that the palliative care component be implemented as soon as possible, and be separated from the bill on the end of life," said Claire Fourcade, president of the French Society for Accompaniment and Palliative Care at the press conference.
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo announced that the bill "on the French end-of-life model" would be "presented in February", after a ten-year plan on palliative care. But, in doing so, "the government is linking palliative care to this law that gives a license to kill," Thierry Amouroux, spokesman for the National Union of Nursing Professionals, denounced on Monday.