France Wants Assisted Euthanasia Like in Canada

Emmanuel Macron has announced a bill allowing ‘assisted dying’ under ‘strict conditions’ to be presented to the Council of Ministers in April.

The French President said today that adults suffering from an ‘incurable illness’ will be able to ask for help to die.

Speaking to French daily newspapers Libération and La Croix, the head of state said a lethal substance can be prescribed to a patient if they request it under specific conditions.

They can either administer it themselves or take with the help of another person if needed, if they are ‘not in control’.

The substance can be requested if the adult is able to ask for it and if their suffering is not able to be relieved.

Minors and patients suffering psychiatric or neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s will not be eligible.

Macron went on to say that the bill will be presented in April with a first reading in the National Assembly taking place in May.

The third party can be a volunteer, the doctor or the nurse treating the patient, while the substance can be administered at the patient’s home, in care homes for the elderly or care centres.

Medical experts will have 15 days to respond to the request for help to die and an approval will be valid for three months, during which time the patient can retract, Macron said.

The French President said that if medical professionals rejected the request, the patient could consult another medical team or appeal.

He added that he wanted to avoid the terms assisted suicide or euthanasia because the patient’s consent is essential, with a role for medical opinion and ‘precise criteria’.

Until now French patients in pain wishing to end their lives have had to travel abroad, including to neighbouring Belgium.

Under current French legislation, active euthanasia is prohibited. That is the deliberate administration of a lethal substance with the intention to cause a person to die.

French law also bans assisted suicide, meaning a caregiver helping a patient to die if they ask for it.

The Claeys-Léonetti law, adopted in 2016, permits deep sedation until death for terminally ill patients who are seriously suffering.

In September 2022, Macron announced the launch of a citizens’ convention on assisted dying.

And in April last year, in a speech at the Elysee presidential palace, Macron vowed to ‘move forward toward a French model regarding end-of-life options’.

It followed a report indicating that a large majority from among a panel composed of 184 randomly selected citizens support ‘active assistance in dying.’

The report concluded that French law is currently ‘not adapted’ to end-of-life issues and must evolve. It offered different options involving legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.

Both euthanasia and assisted suicide are permitted in a handful of countries in Europe.

The Netherlands and Belgium were the first to allow it 20 years ago followed by Luxembourg in 2009 and Spain in 2021.

Switzerland allows assisted suicide, and Austria legalised it for people with a serious or incurable disease in 2021.

Assisted suicide was also decriminalised in Italy in certain situations in 2019.

In the UK, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has spoken out on the ban on assisted dying, believing the law should be changed.

He has previously said that, if safeguards are in place, people who want to end their lives could be helped by someone ‘acting out of compassion’. It is understood that his view is unchanged.

While Labour is not planning to set aside legislative time to change the law if it wins the next election, Sir Keir’s personal views suggest he could allow a free vote on the issue.

Assisted suicide is banned in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. In Scotland, it is not a specific criminal offence, but assisting the death of someone can leave a person open to a murder charge.

A bid to change the law was brought before Parliament in 2015 when Sir Keir described the ban as an ‘injustice’ and voted in favour of the Bill, which failed.

He told the Commons: ‘I understand those who say that we should revert to a position where nobody should be given any assistance at all, but we have arrived at a position where compassionate, amateur assistance from nearest and dearest is accepted but professional medical assistance is not, unless someone has the means and physical assistance to get to Dignitas.’

Sir Keir, who issued the current guidance on assisted dying when he was Director of Public Prosecutions, has also stated the law ‘needs to be changed’. But he has stressed the importance of safeguards to protect vulnerable people, while letting those who ‘wish to die be assisted by someone acting out of compassion’.

Around the same time, Dame Esther Rantzen, who has lung cancer, announced she had joined the Dignitas assisted-dying clinic in Switzerland.

Since then, politicians including ministers Michael Gove and Mel Stride have said it was time for another parliamentary debate. The Commons health and social care committee is due to publish a report into assisted dying and assisted suicide.

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