Is France soon to make assisted dying legal?

FRANCE 24 English

French President Emmanuel Macron will back a new bill on assisted dying, he said in an interview published by French media on Sunday, March 10. Only adults with full control of their judgment, suffering an incurable and life-threatening illness and whose pain cannot be relieved will be able to "ask to be helped to die", Macron told newspapers. This Entre Nous aired on Paris Direct, on March 11, 2024. A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina Robertson.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 Well, here in France, a new euthanasia bill is being sent to Parliament.

00:05 President Emmanuel Macron announced the bill that would let adults facing end-of-life illnesses

00:09 have help in dying.

00:11 The move comes after a report last year showed that most French people support legalizing

00:15 end-of-life options.

00:16 Well, our Solange Mougin is in the studio with me now to talk a bit more about all of

00:21 this.

00:22 And Solange, the French president was very careful with his terminology when he made

00:25 this announcement because, of course, it is a very delicate subject.

00:28 It is.

00:29 He announced this with an exclusive interview, actually, to two papers, Libération and the

00:34 Christian paper La Croix.

00:38 Libération left-leaning and that choice sort of underlines the political, the societal,

00:47 the individual and the religious spectrum when it comes to these end-of-life policies.

00:54 Now, in his interview with them, Macron said his bill is a means to set guidelines for

00:59 the ill to, quote, "ask for help to die" or "l'aide à mourir."

01:05 It is not, the president said, a euthanasia or an assisted suicide bill.

01:12 For Macron, those terms actually do not describe the bill's mission of creating a way for

01:16 people to try and get help to die in France under very, very specific criteria.

01:23 So given that specificity, what are the criteria that are laid out in the bill?

01:26 Well, first, to get help dying and to make a request, the patient has to meet four criteria.

01:33 One such help can only be possible for adults.

01:37 So children with terminal illnesses would not, for example, be eligible.

01:41 The second condition is that the person has to be fully sound of mind, which thus excludes

01:48 neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer patients, and also it excludes the psychologically

01:54 troubled.

01:55 Now, the third criteria is the person has to have an incurable illness or a life-threatening

02:00 condition.

02:01 And finally, the fourth criteria is the person has to be suffering either physically or psychologically

02:07 or both.

02:08 All of these, if all of these criteria are met, the bill says that the person can ask

02:14 for a medical team to review their request to die.

02:17 And then how exactly would it work?

02:19 Well, if the commission agrees, then the ill person would be given a prescription for a

02:25 lethal drug.

02:27 He or she can either administer that dose themselves or request help from another person

02:33 of his or her choice, be it a medical professional or someone else.

02:38 In addition to boosting palliative care and also patients' rights, this bill also, it

02:44 says that if the initial request is rejected, then the ill person can actually appeal the

02:50 decision.

02:51 And this in itself is actually creating quite a bit of debate already, and it is potentially

02:57 going to create further debate.

02:59 It's potentially the beginning of a lot of debate on what is a very, very touchy subject.

03:05 It's so divisive, actually, that many of Macron's critics say that he had been avoiding putting

03:10 this forth for years.

03:13 The fact that he has now is historic for many people

03:15 who are pushing for the bill.

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