MPs approved in committee a bill creating a "right to assisted dying", subject to strict conditions.
The bill would allow patients suffering from a "serious and incurable condition" that is "life-threatening, in an advanced or terminal phase" and who can no longer bear their suffering, to receive or administer a lethal substance. It was adopted on Friday, May 2, by 28 deputies against 15, with one abstention; supported by the majority of representatives of the left and Macronist groups, and bitterly opposed by those of the National Rally (RN) and the Republicans (LR).
The Social Affairs Committee had already unanimously approved, before the parliamentary recess, a bill on palliative care defended by Annie Vidal (Renaissance).
The text by Olivier Falorni (MoDem group), creating a "right to assisted dying" , comes from the bill "relating to support for the sick and the end of life" . Just like the text on palliative care, brought forward in spring 2024 by the Minister of Health, Catherine Vautrin , and which could not be completed due to the dissolution.
Debates in the Chamber on the two texts will begin on May 12 for two weeks, with a joint general discussion and two formal votes scheduled for May 29.
Throughout the committee debates, Mr. Falorni and his co-rapporteurs, including three opposition MPs, were keen to maintain the "balance" of the proposed text. Ultimately, only 68 of the more than 1,000 amendments under discussion were adopted.
Thus, the key article of the text defining the eligibility criteria for assisted dying has barely been amended.
These five cumulative criteria are: being at least 18 years old; French or residing in France; suffering from a “serious and incurable condition, whatever the cause, which is life-threatening, in an advanced or terminal phase” ; the latter causing “physical or psychological suffering” which is unbearable or resistant to treatment; being able to express one’s wishes freely and in an informed manner.
In its initial version, the bill provided that the applicant's life would be in danger "in the short or medium term" - the difficulty being knowing what this notion of "medium term" covers.
Collegiality of the decisionThe deputies also decided to give patients the free choice between self-administration of the lethal product and administration by a volunteer caregiver, whereas the initial text provided that the latter would only be possible when the patient "is not physically able to do so." This development was contested in particular by Horizons MP and former Health Minister Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo.
Another issue that is raising questions even within the government is the collegiality of the decision. The text currently stipulates that the doctor contacted by the patient alone decides whether the patient is eligible, after having gathered the opinions of at least one other doctor and one other caregiver. The rapporteurs are expected to rework the issue before the session.
On the front line for the LR group, MPs Philippe Juvin, Thibault Bazin, Patrick Hetzel and Justine Gruet battled over semantics, demanding that the terms "euthanasia" and "assisted suicide" be written down in black and white, and attempted to influence a procedure that, according to them, did not offer enough safeguards (time limits, possibilities for appeal and control, place of writing, distance learning, etc.).
The RN particularly spoke out against the creation of an offence of obstruction, which would criminally punish the act of preventing or attempting to prevent the exercise of the right to die.
On the other side of the spectrum, left-wing MPs have been working to extend this right, with Danielle Simonnet (Ecologist and Social group) consistently – but unsuccessfully – defending the possibility of expressing one's choice regarding assisted dying in advance directives.
The World with AFP
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