French MPs are once again debating assisted suicide, as an end of life bill restarts its legislative process after it was interrupted by President Emmanuel Macron’s dissolution of parliament last year. Lawmakers in committee also adopted a bill on palliative care, which was initially part of the end-of-life legislation.
Lawmakers begin debates on Monday on a bill first proposed in the spring of 2024, but delayed by the dissolution of parliament.
The legislation - backed by Macron’s supporters and most of the left and opposed by the right – would allow people suffering from terminal illnesses to receive or administer a lethal substance to end their lives.
A first debate focused on who would be allowed to go through with assisted suicide: adults, aged 18 or older, who are French or French residents, who suffer from a “serious and incurable, life-threatening, advanced or terminal illness”.
Defining end-of-life
The disease must cause “physical or psychological suffering” that cannot be addressed by treatment.
As part of the proposed legislation, the patient must be capable of expressing freely, in an informed manner, his or her wish to end their life.
This definition differs from what was proposed in the bill introduced by the government in 2024, which said the patient's prognosis had to be “short or medium term”.
Health Minister Catherine Vautrin, who authored the initial bill, said the government would introduce amendments to clarify the wording.
“The government will be tabling an amendment to define the ‘advanced phase’, or ‘entering into an irreversible process marked by a worsening of the state of health that affects the quality of life’,” she said in an interview with Le Parisien newspaper Sunday.
Debates, amendments
The government will also introduce an amendment to reinstate a mandatory 48-hour reflection period after a doctor’s approval.
Lawmakers in commission on Friday approved allowing patients to choose between administering the lethal substance themselves, or having a doctor or nurse do so. The original bill only allowed a practitioner to administer the substance if the patient is not physically able to do so.
The right, which vehemently opposes the right to euthanasia, rejected this change, saying it widened the scope of the bill.
The commission rejected amendments that would have allowed a practitioner to end a patient’s life based on advance directives, if the patient was no longer able to express him- or herself.
Palliative care part of the question
Lawmakers in commission also unanimously adopted a separate bill on palliative care, which was had been included in the original end-of-life bill, before it was controversially split off by the new government.
The bill introduces an “enforceable right” to palliative care and the creation of “support structures”, to provide services for people outside of a hospital setting.
Debates on the two bills will last two weeks, with two formal votes scheduled for 29 May.
(with AFP)
