In an interview with Le Parisien, the president of the Federation of Physicians of France claims the right to be able to administer Midazolam, a powerful sedative, to end-of-life patients in order to help them die.
I promised and I did. It was a sort of moral contract.” It is in these terms that Jean-Paul Hamon, president of the Federation of Physicians, already claims to have helped to die a patient suffering from melanoma discovered at a very advanced stage. He claims to be far from the only general practitioner to have already assisted a patient at the end of his life. “A lot of people do the same. They were lucky not to be denounced by a malevolent colleague or sued by the family. If it were necessary to prohibit the practice of all general practitioners who take care of the end of life, without being completely in the rules, France would be a medical Sahara.
Physician charged
In the columns of Parisianthe president of the Federation of Doctors of France pleads for the legalization of the administration of a powerful sedative to patients at the end of life and wishing to die.
This position comes as in mid-November, a general practitioner practicing near Le Havre was indicted for “administration of harmful substances having caused death without intention of giving it”. He is notably accused of having administered between 2015 and 2019 to five patients now deceased Midazolam, a powerful sedative which relieves pain and is, for the time being, only available in hospitals. Accused of having supplied him with the vials, his wife, anesthetist-resuscitator in the clinic, is also being prosecuted for complicity and breach of trust. The attending physician acknowledged the facts and clarified “that he was not part of a euthanasia process”. Pending his trial, he is prohibited from practicing medicine.
Better consider general practitioners
For Jean-Paul Hamon, the story of this “well-known, competent and dedicated” doctor, “cripplingly illustrates the contempt for general practitioners and the difficulties we have in exercising our profession correctly.”
According to him, it is urgent to lift the suspension from practicing general practitioners administering sedatives to end-of-life patients. It is also necessary to allow them to use sedatives such as Midazolam because they relieve their pain and allow them to “go smoothly to a palliative care unit or during home hospitalization (HAD)”. “There are patients who live in regions where there is no HAH service or who do not want it. What about patients with terminal stage incurable cancers, old people who want to die at home but whom morphine can’t even calm down? We leave them in excruciating pain and we tell the helpless family that nothing can be done? It’s unbearable”, alarmed the president of the Federation of Doctors of France.
Jean-Paul Hamon assures us: the administration of Midazolam is in no way comparable to euthanasia. “It’s an additional step in pain management. When a patient wants to die at home, his departure must be as dignified as possible. It’s called care,” says the doctor.
Advocating for a supervised use of the sedative, he would like general practitioners to be able to prescribe and administer it when they deem it necessary. “It would be a big step forward, a big recognition. (…) We are not considered enough.”
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