Alain Cocq rests in his apartment in Dijon, in north-eastern France, on August 12.
(CNN) -
Facebook has blocked a Frenchman with an incurable disease from broadcasting his own death on its platform, according to a company statement.
Alain Cocq, 57, from Dijon, eastern France, has a rare incurable disease that causes his arteries to stick together.
He estimates that he will only have days to live after stopping all medications, food and drinks, which he planned to do on Friday night.
Cocq intended to broadcast his last days on the social network, to raise awareness of French laws on assisted death.
In a statement Saturday, Facebook said the live broadcast was blocked to avoid promoting self-harm.
"Our hearts go out to Alain Cocq for what is happening in this sad situation and for all those who are personally affected by it," the company said in the statement.
"While we respect Alain's decision to draw attention to this important issue, we prevent live broadcasts on his account based on expert advice that the depiction of suicide attempts could trigger and promote further self-harm."
Cocq previously lobbied President Emmanuel Macron to allow him to die through "active medical assistance," but to no avail.
Euthanasia is illegal in France.
The law in this country also dictates that deep and continuous sedation, which can hasten the death of a person and render them unconscious until they pass away, is not legal unless there are specific circumstances established by the Claeys-Leonetti Act of 2016, which also requires that the death of a person be imminent.
But French citizens do have the right to suspend medical care and, according to the rules, there is no prosecution for suicide.
Alain Cocq said he will stop all taking medicines, food and drinks this Friday at 11 pm local time.
Cocq, who is confined to a wheelchair and founded an organization to improve the lives of people with disabilities, wrote a letter to Macron dated July 20 asking him to allow him to die "with dignity." and there he described his "extremely violent suffering."
"I would like to clarify that, currently, I am in a situation of being mentally healthy, confined in a dysfunctional body, crippled by suffering," he wrote in the letter that was seen by CNN.
"Mr. President, would you bear to have your intestines emptied into a bag, your bladder emptied into a bag and fed from a bag, a third party having to bathe you, because you are paralyzed due to excruciating pain?" Cocq continued in the letter.
Cocq urged Macron to review French laws that prevent healthcare professionals from expediting the death of their dying patients with drugs.
"I simply ask to leave with dignity, with active medical assistance, because my dysfunctional body prevents me from doing so surrounded by my family and friends," he wrote.
"Some use the term 'active euthanasia' or 'assisted suicide', but for me the more appropriate term is 'end of life with dignity with active medical assistance,'" he wrote.
In response, President Macron wrote that he was "moved" by Cocq's letter and admired the "remarkable strength of will" he had shown in fighting "incessant battles" with the disease.
However, he said that he could not comply with the request because he is not "placed above the law" and could not ask anyone to "go beyond our current legal framework".
Cocq says he only asks to die with dignity.
In an interview with CNN on Friday, Cocq said that he indeed hoped Macron would not be able to comply with his request, but that he appreciated the "compassion" he had shown him in his letter.
«Today I am full of fullness.
I made the decision to end my life on June 26, which was when I asked my medical assistant to put in writing the letter that I later sent to the president.
It was a brutal decision, but I can tell you that I haven't felt this good in a long time, "he told CNN.
"I know I am about to endure pain like I have never endured before, for about five to seven days," he added.
Regarding the decision to broadcast his death live through video, which will have no sound, he added: “I'm not doing this out of voyeurism.
I want to inform people about something we all know but refuse to talk about.
The pain".
"I chose to show this pain," he continued.
“The basis of a democracy is that citizens have freedom of choice.
Death should be democratic, "he added.
Cocq also said that, as a Christian, he did not believe that what he was doing was against religion.
"God is love, and God will not allow his people to suffer unnecessarily," he said.
It is unclear if someone assisting him would be prosecuted or if authorities plan to intervene.
CNN has reached out to the government and the Ministry of Health for comment.
Sophie Medjeberg, Vice President of "Handi mais pas que!"
(More than disabled), she is a friend of Cocq.
She told CNN that she believed the French were "ready" for a debate on assisted death.
“He started talking about it about two years ago.
It took me time to understand it, accept it.
I am also ill, as I myself suffer from multiple sclerosis, "she said.
«I cried yesterday, but Alain was the one who encouraged me.
He is very calm in his initiative, ”Medjeberg recounted.
In dialogue with CNN, Philippe Lohéac, executive director of the French Association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD, for its acronym in French), criticized France's laws on death assistance to terminal patients, arguing that they do not “take in consideration of the sick whose life has become a nightmare, whose life has become nothing but survival. '
He said the law needed to be changed so that people could choose how to die.
This note has been updated to include Facebook's response. Gaëlle Fournier and Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.
euthanasia