Assisted dying: patients will not be deemed to have "died of natural causes"

On Friday, MPs removed a provision from the text relating to the right to assisted death , according to which patients who resort to it would then be "deemed to have died of natural causes".

Amendments to delete the paragraph in question were approved by a narrow majority (67 to 58), with an unfavorable opinion from rapporteur Stéphane Delautrette (PS), and a sensible opinion from the government, i.e. not directing the deputies in one direction or the other. The article was approved immediately.

MP Nicole Dubré-Chirat (Renaissance), who initiated one of the amendments that led to the introduction of this provision in committee, explained that she wanted to "spare the families of the deceased from possible difficulties linked to contractual commitments entered into during their lifetime."

But MPs from various groups have castigated an "Orwellian" provision (Dominique Potier, PS), which "completely manipulates the meaning of words" (Charles Sitzenstuhl, Renaissance), and "distorts reality" (Patrick Hetzel, LR).

"You are changing the meaning of words to impose an ideology, even if it means destroying reality," said RN MP Sandrine Dogor-Such, linking this statement to the refusal of the text's promoters to include the terms "euthanasia" or "assisted suicide" in the law.

Mr. Delautrette, for his part, argued that patients who died following deep and continuous sedation, as authorized by the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016, were deemed to have died of natural causes.

But Mr. Sitzenstuhl recalled the difference between the two procedures, highlighted by the High Authority of Health, particularly with regard to the "result criterion: deep and continuous sedation, continued until death due to the natural progression of the disease. Whereas euthanasia (...) causes the immediate death of the patient," he quoted.

Health Minister Catherine Vautrin, for her part, recalled that it was specified further on in the text that "assisted dying was not an obstacle to the conditions of life insurance contracts."

She suggested "taking advantage of the parliamentary shuttle" of the text, which must then be examined in the Senate, to improve this point. One possibility would be to add "two boxes" to the list of apparent circumstances of death, one for deep and continuous sedation and one for assisted dying.

MPs are expected to complete the first reading of the text this weekend, before a formal vote on May 27.