France has finally, after years of debate, approved legislation granting incurably ill adults the right to assisted dying, with the text being approved by the country’s highest constitutional authority and published in the official journal, reports The Guardian.
The law, known as a law on “end of life” or “aid in dying” rather than “assisted dying” or “euthanasia”, means France joins the small group of countries including the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada, to have legalised the practise.
Published last week, it gives the right to patients of legal age who are French nationals or long-term residents and suffering from conditions that are assessed as incurable and causing unbearable pain.
The patient’s eligibility must be assessed by a doctor before a panel decides whether the criteria have been met, and once approval has been granted, patients must wait at least two days before the procedure can take place, and then confirm their decision on the day.
The patient may withdraw consent at any time and must administer the lethal substance themselves unless they are physically unable to do so, in which case a healthcare worker can help.
Until now France has allowed passive euthanasia – such as withholding artificial life support – and deep sedation before death, but people seeking active end-of-life options have been forced to travel to other countries where assisted dying is legal.
While President Emmanuel Macron, who promised a right-to-die law in his 2022 re-election campaign, welcomed the news, the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, which provides lifetime care to people with genetic intellectual disabilities like Down’s syndrome, expressed “outrage”, as did other campaigners, who said the law posed “an absolute danger to the most vulnerable”.
Euthanasia is a controversial subject in France, which has a longstanding Catholic tradition, while the Bill was also opposed by some health workers.
The publication in the official journal follows several legal challenges, with critics arguing that the minimum two-day reflection period was too short and that entire healthcare institutions should be able to refuse on grounds of conscience.
France’s constitutional council upheld the law in its entirety last Friday but ruled that certain provisions needed clarification, including the “conscience clause”, allowing healthcare professionals to refuse to take part in the procedure.
The council refused to strike down any part of the law, but ruled that doctors must take into account patients’ legal guardians when assessing requests, and that pharmacists as well as doctors and nurses could exercise the “conscience clause”.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
France votes to legalise assisted dying
France plans assisted suicide law change
French court orders resumption of life support in ‘right-to-die' controversy