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This Tuesday, the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) issued an opinion on the end of life. It paves the way for “active assistance in dying” with certain conditions.
This is a major development. In June 2021, the National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE) had already set up a working group to reflect on the sensitive subject of the “end of life”. However, this Tuesday, September 13, the text on assisted suicide was successful: it was validated by the majority of CCNE members. Only eight of them expressed a reservation.
“A certain number of ethical criteria must be respected”
The CCNE experts are clear on this subject: this path “towards active assistance in dying” will have to be very supervised.
“There is a way for an ethical application of active assistance in dying, under certain strict conditions with which it seems unacceptable to compromise”said Alain Claeys, one of the rapporteurs of the opinion, during a press conference.
Thus, any person who wishes to legally benefit from this right must:
- Be of legal age and suffering from a serious and incurable disease causing refractory physical or mental suffering;
- Present a vital prognosis engaged in the medium term;
- Argue this choice, in a firm, free, enlightened and reiterated way.
This request will be the subject of a documented written record, taken care of by the patient’s doctor. It will then be presented during “a collegial procedure bringing together other healthcare professionals“.
For Dr Fourcade, president of the French palliative care society: “Cis a major shift towards patient autonomy, although there may be a gap between what the law makes possible and what some patients demand. It also remains to measure the effects of this development on the most vulnerable people..
Assisted euthanasia: towards legalization by 2023?
This opinion is therefore a first step towards a potential legalization. President Emmanuel Macron has also looked into the subject extensively and is aiming for a possible change in the law by the end of 2023.
The members of the committee believe, however, that this opinion cannot focus solely on the theme of euthanasia or active assistance in dying:
“We would not understand a law solely focused on this subject because today we know very well that there are unacceptable situations on (the implementation of) palliative care”said one of the committee members, Mr. Claeys.
As a reminder, the objective of palliative care is to relieve the physical, psychological, social and spiritual pain of patients at the end of life. The care must improve the patient’s quality of life until the end.
However, the lack of resources and knowledge in the hospital setting makes access to care difficult.
“Still today, two thirds of patients do not have access to palliative care and 26 departments in France do not have dedicated services. We are terribly lacking in resources”observes Dr. Fourcade.
This is why the committee wishes to accelerate efforts in favor of palliative care.