The future bill paving the way for active assistance in dying will have to ensure "traceability from A to Z" for a priori and a posteriori control, announced the Minister Delegate for Territorial Organization and Health Professions, Agnès Firmin le Bodo, Sunday. "We need to ensure traceability from A to Z (...) For active assistance in dying, it seems essential to me to be able to follow the whole process, "said the minister in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche.
This bill "will include three blocks: active assistance in dying, palliative care and patients' rights," described the minister who does not decide on what would be the French model between active assistance in dying and euthanasia. "It remains to be defined. What matters is that the supervised possibility of benefiting from active assistance in dying becomes effective, as demanded by 75% of our fellow citizens, "said Agnès Firmin Le Bodo who is therefore the pilot of the reform at the expense of Minister François Braun.
Red lines
President Emmanuel Macron wants a new law on the end of life "by the end of the summer," he said in April after having gathered for several months of French drawn lots, the Citizens' Convention which has mostly voted to open an "active aid in dying", but under important conditions. In her interview with the JDD, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo recalls the "red lines" set by Emmanuel Macron: "minors will be excluded; the patient's vital prognosis should be engaged in the medium term; his will collected several times; his discernment intact".
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The notion of the medium term is "at the heart of the work in progress", she added. "Other points are not decided: what time frame to reiterate the request? Will the multidisciplinary team consider the first or second request? Are there plans for a psychological consultation between the two?" she said. Agnès Firmin Le Bodo excludes that patients suffering from mental illnesses can have access to it. "Rather than freezing a list of diseases opening access to active assistance in dying, we should rather qualify the impact of the pathologies concerned," said the minister.
However, it sees two "safeguards": "doctors and caregivers who do not wish to participate in active assistance in dying must be able to use a conscience clause from the first stage of the process, when they have to decide on a vital prognosis committed in the medium term. Then, it will be necessary to ensure that the patient has been offered palliative care, "explained the minister. It promises that the "government wants the bill to be co-constructed with parliamentarians".