Death as the ultimate
“care”
?
Looking for a new French end-of-life model for a year and a half, Emmanuel Macron has finally made his decision.
In a joint interview with La Croix and Libération, the President of the Republic reveals the contours of this future major societal reform.
“With this text, we are looking death in the face
,” he pleads in the two dailies.
The President of the Republic announces the sending of the bill to the Council of State
“within eight to ten days”
.
Then, it should be presented to the council of ministers
“in April, for a first reading in May”
.
As announced, this law will not be subject to an accelerated procedure.
Its review should therefore take more than a year.
The Head of State also specifies the contours of this
“assisted death”
, according to the expression which will be used in the text and which replaces the words
“assisted suicide”
or
“euthanasia”
.
The president cites a passage from the bill to explain his philosophy:
“The administration of the lethal substance is carried out by the person himself or, when he is not able to do so physically, at his own discretion. request, either by a volunteer designated by them when no technical constraints prevent this, or by the doctor or nurse who accompanies them.
»
In other words, the new end-of-life model does not exclude either path.
The patients concerned will be prescribed a lethal product to be administered alone or with assistance.
If the text favors assisted suicide, it could authorize euthanasia carried out by a caregiver or even by a loved one.
Authorize without inciting
The head of state, however, seeks to avoid giving the impression of creating a new, widely accessible right.
Authorizing without inciting is the difficult balance he demands.
“We thought of this law as a law of fraternity, a law which reconciles the autonomy of the individual and the solidarity of the nation.
In this, it does not create, strictly speaking, neither a new right nor a freedom, but it traces a path which did not exist until then and which opens the possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions",
argues -he.
The cumulative conditions for access to chosen death had already been stated by Emmanuel Macron.
He repeats them in this interview.
Assistance in dying would be reserved for French adults, suffering from a
“serious and incurable condition”
which threatens (their) vital prognosis
“in the short or medium term”
and presenting
“refractory or unbearable physical or psychological suffering”
linked to their disease.
“Which means that we exclude from this assistance in dying patients suffering from psychiatric illnesses or neurodegenerative diseases which impair discernment, such as Alzheimer’s
,” insists the president to La Croix and Libération.
This bill appears quite close to the one drafted under the leadership of the former Minister for Health Professions, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, and of which
Le Figaro
unveiled a working version in December.
However, he was corrected on one point, the collegiality of the decision.
In the first version, a doctor could decide alone.
The President of the Republic indicates that the text provides for a
“medical team”
to examine the request.
She should
“ensure that the access criteria are met”
, but could also
“seek the advice of specialists and consult doctors, psychologists, nurses or caregivers who are used to accompanying the person”
.
In the event of a decision in favor of
"assisted dying"
, after a period
of "maximum fifteen days"
to examine the request, it would also be up to health professionals to define the
"modalities of its implementation"
, in a
"dialogue with the patient
.
Development of palliative care
As announced, the Head of State finally confirms that the law will have three parts, including one on the development of palliative care.
“To avoid giving the impression that we are providing assisted dying because society is not capable of providing care
,” points out Emmanuel Macron.
Previously, a ten-year palliative care strategy will be presented at the end of March.
“
It’s time to do it, so we will do it,
” Emmanuel Macron promised Line Renaud at the beginning of September 2022, referring to the actress’ fight to legalize
“active assistance in dying”
.
In the process, the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) gave the green light to this major change, exploring the avenue of assisted suicide in an opinion.
A break with the ban on killing which guides the Leonetti-Claeys law of 2016.
Since these two episodes which marked the start of the debate, the President of the Republic, with the prudence of a cat, has alternated between proactive messages and doubts about his desire to legislate on this thorny subject.