French President Emmanuel Macron has asked the government and parliament to work together on drafting a bill on the issue of end-of-life care that includes the possibility of assisted dying, as well as a 10-year national plan to improve palliative care.
Monday’s announcement came after Macron met with members of a randomly appointed citizens' convention who have spent the past three months working to decide if existing legislation concerning the end of human life is adapted to real situations.
The bill, to be ready by the end of the summer, is to build on the work of the convention, which overwhelmingly favoured allowing some form of assistance to die.
Assisted suicide – where medical personnel give someone the means to kill themselves – or voluntary euthanasia – where a physician plays an active role to end a person's life at that person's request – is allowed in several countries in Europe.
Macron did not say whether he wanted euthanasia or assisted suicide to be allowed in France, or if the bill would include either or both.
Ethical opposition
France’s Ordre des Medecins, a medical ethics regulatory body, opposes involving doctors in helping people end their lives. Any change to the law, it said, must include a “conscience clause” allowing doctors to opt out of administering lethal drugs.
However, some doctors have called for an end to “underhand" methods, arguing end-of-life care could be handled correctly by doctors who know what they're doing.
Those in favour of a change to the law also argue that palliative care is not available widely enough, with residents in 26 of France's 101 administrative departments having no access to palliative care at all.
