It is a heated debate that has just started at theAssembly national this Tuesday March 10. The proposed law on end of life carried by the deputies Jean Leonetti (UMP) and Alain Claeys (PS) is currently examined in the Assembly, before a vote on Tuesday, March 17. And the least we can say is that this proposal is far from unanimous. On the left as on the right, the deputies protest against the absence of the word “euthanasia” in the text.
In essence, the text proposes two advances: the right to deep sedation and terminal for the patient, whose level of consciousness will be reduced and pain reduced until natural death, as well as the creation of advance and binding directives. The latter will take precedence over the opinion of the medical staff, who will be obliged to follow the wishes of the patient and to abandon the therapeutic relentlessness if this is his wish.
On the other hand, the word “euthanasia” does not appear anywhere, undoubtedly in a desire not to ignite the debate. Unfortunately, for both anti-euthanasia and pro-euthanasia, this text therefore refuses to take a position and choose a side.
In the Socialist Party, the course of appeasement and consensus set by François Hollande is far from being followed. Thus, out of the 286 Socialist deputies, 122 of them (i.e. more than 46%) signed the amendment drafted by Jean-Louis Touraine and Philip Cordery advocating the legalization of assisted suicide and euthanasia. Among the “rebels” who believe that the text does not go far enough, we find Benoît Hamon, the former minister of national education, Carlos Da Silva, substitute for Manuel Valls in the legislative elections, Sandrine Mazetier, vice-president of the National Assembly, or Catherine Lemorton, president of the Commission des Affaires sociales. However, Philip Cordery defends himself against any affront to the President of the Republic and ensures that he will vote in spite of everything for the bill since it “includes important advances, such as advance directives which guarantee the patient’s freedom of choice” , he assures in an interview relayed by the daily 20 minutes.
On the right, however, the bill is more badly perceived. Certain deputies, gathered in the group “Parliamentary agreement for the family”, denounce a vague and ambiguous text which could be misinterpreted and lead to a disguised euthanasia.
In total, this conservative anti-marriage for all group would have tabled a thousand amendments “to clarify the intentions of an ambiguous text”, explains Xavier Breton, deputy for Ain. The group in fact raises questions that are rarely mentioned in the text about deep sedation, in particular about its reversibility. He is also worried to see the doctor-patient dialogue broken off because of the superiority of the patient’s wishes to the advice of the medical profession.
Note that a majority of UDI, UMP, PS and Left Front deputies have however announced that they support the text, enough to hope for a majority “yes” in the vote on March 17.
Read also :
End of life: start of parliamentary debate in the Assembly
End of life: the French in favor of “deep sedation”
Euthanasia: 9 out of 10 French people are in favor
