This Wednesday 21 January afternoon will begin the parliamentary debate on the subject of end of life, and the right to deep sedation. The bill, which follows a national consultation, is carried by the deputies Alain Claeys (PS) and Jean Leonneti (UMP). Initially, the text will give rise to a debate before being voted on in March.
In essence, the text proposes two major advances. First, it affirms the patient’s right to benefit from terminal sedation: the patient is placed under sedation, which lowers his level of consciousness and reduces the pain which is often unbearable. We are talking about deep sedation and terminal when the doses administered no longer allow the patient’s full consciousness, and they are maintained until his natural death.
Secondly, the text includes the creation of advance and binding directives for doctors: the wishes of the patient, if he has expressed them, will prevail over the opinion of the medical staff. In this sense, the decision whether or not to continue “therapeutic relentlessness” will come first and foremost to the patient.
Currently, “only 2.5% of the dying have written advance directives” underlines Jean-Luc Romero, president of the association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD). The knowledge that these directives will be listened to will perhaps push the French at the end of their life to write them. However, the decision as to how to implement deep sedation will remain in the hands of the physician. If this bill is indeed a step forward, it is therefore insufficient for the associations claiming the right to euthanasia.
Revocable directives recorded on the Vitale card
Concretely, the text provides for setting up a model form accessible to all and recorded on the Vitale card. These directives will be revocable at any time, and will no longer have to be renewed every three years as before.
“People forget to renew their advance directives”, deplores Jean-luc Romero, who welcomes this change. “Fortunately, the French don’t always think about their death! And if some advise to refer to a doctor when writing these guidelines, to use the right vocabulary, others see it as a total aberration. “The ADMD is opposed to the idea that these directives are signed by a doctor,” says Jean-Luc Romero. “It’s like having your will signed by your heirs. “
Naturally, the text is insufficient for pro-euthanasia, while it frightens several anti-euthanasia associations gathered under the banner “Relieve but not kill”, who see it as “masked euthanasia”. In the same vein, UMP deputies published a column in Le Figaro to warn about the abuses of this bill, which would risk turning deep sedation “into a euthanasia who does not say his name ”.
Still, the proposal of the two deputies received the support of the French Society for Support and Palliative Care (SFAP), which estimated in December that their text did not carry “the seeds of a euthanasia drift. “
And you what do you think ? Are you in favor of this law? Come talk about it on the forum.
Read also :
End of life: the French in favor of “deep sedation”
Euthanasia: 8 out of 10 French people refuse therapeutic relentlessness
Assisted suicide: more and more patients choose it
