The Head of State announced on Monday April 3 that he was waiting for the government to draft a law on the end of life in France “ by the end of summer “, by receiving the conclusions of the Citizens’ Convention which came out in favor of a “ active assistance in dying “, but under conditions.
Wishing to set up a French model of the end of life “Emmanuel Macron referred to the government and parliamentarians the task of defining the content, but by setting limits. Among them, the need to guarantee the expression of the free and enlightened will “, of the ” repeat choice », « the incurability of refractory, psychic and physical suffering, even the commitment of the vital prognosis “.
“ You rightly insist that active assistance in dying should never be carried out for a social reason, to respond to the isolation which sometimes can make a patient feel guilty who knows he is condemned to term. “, added the French president, who also closed the door to any assistance in dying for minors. Now entrusts the government and parliamentarians with carrying out transpartisan ” a “ work of co-construction, on the basis of this solid reference which is that of the Citizens’ Convention and in connection with all the stakeholders “, added the French president, calling for a” a bill by the end of summer 2023 “.
Investments in palliative care
He announced the “ necessary investments “to feed a” ten year plan on palliative care, denounced as insufficient by the Convention. It was “ an absolute priority “, rejoices Claire Fourcade, president of the French Society for support and palliative care. “ There is a political will, we will now be extremely vigilant to see how this will is applied “. Emmanuel Macron recalled having himself “ a personal opinion that can change “, but also as Head of State ” a responsibility of harmony and a desire for appeasement “.
The French president had received in the morning the 184 members of the Convention, citizens drawn by lot who participated for three months in intense debates on the subject. In a report validated on Sundaythe Convention answered “yes” to three quarters to an aid “ active to die in concrete terms, assisted suicide or euthanasia, subject to significant restrictions.
Current legislation, set by the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016, allows caregivers to irreversibly sedate patients near death, whose suffering is intolerable. But it does not go so far as to authorize assisted suicide (the patient administers the lethal product himself) or euthanasia (a caregiver injects it).
Towards more citizens’ conventions
Emmanuel Macron took the opportunity to praise the method of the citizens’ convention, which has reached maturity, which has made it possible to move towards what he called a French model of the end of life. A method that the President of the Republic wants to extend to other subjects in the coming weeks. “ A citizens’ convention never replaces parliamentary deliberation, but it prepares itsays Emmanuel Macron. At the time of the vote, the fact of majority may suggest that it crushes minority voices. Through your work, you have given a place to the minority voice. While the pension reform has shown the limits of parliamentary debate, Emmanuel Macron seems to want to include citizens’ conventions in a new democratic method, analysis Valerie Gaspolitical service.
► Read also : A Brief History of Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide since Antiquity
(And with AFP)