The National Assembly of France adopts the longtime bill legalizing end -of -life options
Paris – The lower chamber of the French Parliament adopted a bill on Tuesday to allow adults with an incurable disease to take fatal drugs, as public demands develop through Europe to End of life options.
The vote of the National Assembly is a key step in the long -standing problemAlthough others remain before the bill may become law.
“I think of all the patients and their loved ones that I have met for more than a decade. Many are no longer there, and they have always told me: continue to fight,” said Olivier Falorni, the general rapporteur of the bill, in the midst of the applause of other legislators.
The measure proposed on mortal drugs defines assisted death as allowing use under certain conditions so that people can take it themselves. Only those whose physical state does not allow them to do it alone could obtain help from a doctor or a nurse.
The bill, which received 305 votes in favor and 199 against, will be sent to the Senate, where the conservative majority could seek to modify it. A final vote on the measure could take months to be scheduled in the middle of the long and complex process of France. The National Assembly has the last word on the Senate.
Activists have criticized the complexity and duration of the parliamentary process which, according to them, are patients awaiting end -of -life options.
In parallel, another bill for palliative care intended to strengthen measures to relieve pain and preserve the dignity of patients was also adopted on Tuesday, unanimous.
To benefit from it, patients should be over 18 and be French citizens or live in France.
A team of healthcare professionals should confirm that the patient suffers from a serious and incurable disease “at an advanced or terminal stage”, suffers from intolerable and non -treatable pain and is looking for fatal drugs on their own free will.
Patients with serious psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease will not be eligible.
The person would initiate the demand for fatal medication and confirms the request after a period of reflection. If it is approved, a doctor would deliver a prescription for fatal medication, which could be taken at home or in a nursing home or a health care establishment.
A 2023 report indicated that Most French citizens Back the legalization of end -of -life options and opinion polls show growing support in the past 20 years.
The first discussions in Parliament last year were suddenly interrupted by the decision of President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly, plunging France a political crisis of several months.
“How long it was, contrary to what the public thought, contrary to what the French believed,” said Jonathan Denis, president of the Association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD).
Earlier this month, Macron suggested that he could ask French voters to approve the measure via the referendum if parliamentary discussions are expelled.
Macron described an important step on Tuesday, adding on social networks that “with respect for different sensitivities, doubts and hopes, the path of fraternity that I had hoped gradually begins to open. With dignity and humanity.”
Many French people have gone to neighboring countries where medically assisted suicide or euthanasia are legal.
Medically assisted suicide involves patients who take their own free will, fatal drink or medication prescribed by a doctor to those who meet certain criteria. Euthanasia implies doctors or other health practitioners who give patients who meet certain criteria a lethal injection to their own request.
“I cannot accept that French and women must go to Switzerland – if they can afford it – or to Belgium to be supported in their choice, or that French men and women are supported clandestinely in other countries,” said Denis.
The French religious leaders published this month a joint declaration to denounce the bill, warning of the dangers of an “anthropological rupture”. The conference of religious leaders in France (CRCF), which represents the Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist communities, said that the proposed measures are likely to put pressure on the elderly and people with diseases or disabled people.
Assisted suicide is authorized in Switzerland and several American states. Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Australia, Colombia, Belgium and Luxembourg under certain conditions.
In the United Kingdom, legislators debate a bill To help sick adults in the terminal phase to end their lives In England and Wales after giving its initial approval in November.
