'Help to Die': France's Macron backs bill allowing medically assisted death

In a move that is aimed at alleviating patients suffering from incurable diseases, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will consider a bill that will allow people to ‘die at will’ this year.

This bill could add France to the list of European countries that legally allow euthanasia for the terminally ill. It is expected to be presented to the Council of Ministers in April and discussed in Parliament in May, Macron confirmed.

While opinion polls suggest a majority of French citizens support the right-to-die legislation, the bill may face stiff opposition from health workers as well as religious leaders in the traditionally Catholic country.

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What is ‘active assistance dying’?

Under ‘active-assistance dying’, a lethal substance will be prescribed to the patient, who can administer it themselves or with the help of a third party if they are physically unable do so. The third party can be a volunteer, the doctor, or the nurse treating the patient, according to the text. The substance can be administered at the patient’s home, in care homes for the elderly or in care centres.

Adults who are ‘fully conscious of their decision’ and suffering an incurable, life-threatening illness will be able to “ask to be helped to die”, Macron said while laying down ‘precise criteria’ for the proposed legislation.

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The medical team will have 15 days to respond to a patient’s request, and only after the approval will ‘help to die’ be valid for three months, during which the patient can retract at any moment, Macron said.

Minors and patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other psychiatric or neurodegenerative conditions will not be eligible under the right-to-die bill as the condition may hamper their decision-making abilities.

Move not a first in Europe

Until now, patients in pain had to travel to other European countries to put an end to their suffering.

A handful of France’s European neighbours, including Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Germany and Spain permit assisted dying. The former two countries even recognise requests from minors under strict circumstances.

As per the Campaign for Dignity in Dying, more than 200 million people globally can legally access some type of assisted dying, and support for its legislation has been growing in parts of the world.

Even though the Bill would be presented before the European Parliament elections in June, its passage is unlikely before 2025.

Currently, physician-assisted death is legal in 10 US states including Maine, New Jersey, Vermont, New Mexico, Montana, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, California, and Hawai’i and Washington, D.C.