French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday said that his government would back the new end-of-life legislation that would allow for people to die through medical assistance. A draft bill will be presented in Parliament in May.
A lot of other European countries like Switzerland, Belgium and The Netherlands have adopted laws that allow medically assisted deaths in some cases.
Macron in an interview with Liberation newspaper said that he did not want to call the new legislation euthanasia or assisted dying, but rather a “help to die”.
Macron said the law will offer “a possible path, in a determined situation, with precise criteria, where the medical decision is playing its role.”
“It does not, strictly speaking, create a new right nor a freedom, but it traces a path which did not exist until now and which opens the possibility of requesting help in dying under certain strict conditions,” he said.
The president gave the example of people with terminal cancer, some of whom until now have gone abroad to end their lives.
Specifying those who would be eligible, Macron said that only those people above 18 years of age will be allowed to get in the process. Those with severe psychiatric conditions and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease won’t be eligible.
A medical team would be set up to assess and ensure that the criteria is met and the decision is correct, Macron added. There is provision for family members to appeal the decision.
The bill is based on the work of 184 randomly appointed French citizens who have debated the issues. The group finished their work last year with over three-fourths of the people backing some sort of assisted death, for those who want it.
The decision to push this bill follows a vote by lawmakers earlier this month.
The French president is trying to up his image as a social reformer months before June’s European parliamentary elections.
