French lawmakers vote to allow assisted dying
by Darryl Coote · UPIJuly 16 (UPI) -- French lawmakers on Wednesday gave final approval to legislation permitting adults suffering from a serious and incurable, life-threatening condition to seek assisted dying.
France's National Assembly approved the assisted-dying bill in a 291-241 vote, with 29 in abstentions, following years of debate and consideration.
When implemented, France would become the 14th nation worldwide and the ninth in Europe to permit some form of assisted dying, according to a European Parliament Research Service report, while several other countries, including Cyprus and Malta, are considering similar legislation.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, who vowed in 2022 to open a path to assisted dying, welcomed the lawmakers' approval of the bill.
"With solemnity, humility and full respect for our democracy, that pledge has been fulfilled," he said in a social media statement.
"My thoughts are also with everyone who appealed to me personally and share their stories, doubts, convictions and hopes. Their testimony profoundly shaped this legislation."
The bill stipulates that those seeking access to assisted dying must be at least 18 years old and either a French national, permanent resident or a person who regularly resides in France. They must have a serious and incurable, life-threatening condition in an advanced, irreversible phase that affects their quality of life or be in the terminal phase. Psychological suffering alone does not qualify a patient for assisted dying.
The patient must also be able to express their wishes "in a free and informed way."
According to the bill, after the patient makes their request to a practicing doctor, the doctor must explain the patient's condition, available treatments, support and palliative-care options, the assisted-dying procedure and that the patient's right to withdraw at any time.
The doctor would then convene a multidisciplinary panel and, after considering its advice, decide within 15 days whether to approve the request. If approved, the patient must wait at least two days before confirming the decision and selecting a date.
On that date, a doctor or nurse would confirm that the patient still wishes to proceed and is not being coerced before preparing the lethal substance and supervising its administration to the patient.
The patient may withdraw at any time, including on the day the procedure is scheduled.
During debate on the bill Wednesday, Brigitte Liso, a centrist lawmaker and one of the bill's architects, told the assembly that she was proud to be described by critics of assisted dying as an advocate for the procedure, defining an advocate as "someone who advances an idea, provides momentum, opens a path and supports progress."
"Helping people die is progress?" replied conservative lawmaker Pierre Cordier.
"Yes, I am proud to defend this new right and the patients requesting it. I am proud to be participating in the drafting of a law that, I am convinced, will mark our history. I am proud that one day I will be able to tell my grandchildren: I was there. I defended that law. I voted for it."
She compared the assisted-dying legislation to laws that abolished the death penalty and gave women the right to abortion. Cordier rejected the comparison.
"On an issue this deeply personal ... we respect everyone's right to hold their own convictions," Liso said.
"Let us be clear: We are talking about women and men condemned by illness, patients whose suffering has become unbearable and people who know they are going to die," she continued.
While proponents of assisted dying argue that permitting assisted dying for people with incurable and terminally illnesses provides a dignified end to life, opponents object on ethical and religious grounds and warn against incorporating the administration of lethal substances into the healthcare system.
Alliance VITA, a French anti-euthanasia organization, described Wednesday's vote as "a serious ethical and social rupture."
It said the legislation undermines universal suicide prevention, stigmatizes the lives of the most vulnerable as lives that may be cut short and opens the way to "divisions within families, healthcare teams and society as a whole," it said in a statement.
"At a time when our healthcare system is undergoing a profound crisis and access to healthcare and palliative care remains inadequate for many French people, lawmakers have chosen to organize death rather than fully assume their responsibility to support, care for and relieve suffering," it said.
The Association for the Right to Die with Dignity President Jonathan Denis said following the vote that he was thinking of those who have fought for so long to create a path way to assisted dying.
"It was with solemnity and great emotion that I followed the final discussions in the National Assembly that led to this majority vote in favor of the bill establishing the right to assisted dying," he said in a statement.
"So much time has been lost and so many tragedies imposed solely by conservative minds that place their personal convictions above the public interest, and by the paternalistic refusal of part of the medical profession to listen to patients."
Humanists UK, which is pushing for Britain to adopt assisted dying, celebrated France's vote, saying it is one of several nations across Europe to approve such a measure.
"The question now is whether people in England and Wales should continue to have fewer rights and less choice than those in France and Jersey," Humanists UK spokesperson Nathan Stilwell said in a statement.
"Terminally ill people should not have to wait any longer for the compassion and dignity that so many of our neighbors now recognize."