Bill allows doctors to sedate the dying
Print Edition
France鈥檚 Parliament has approved a bill that will let doctors keep terminally ill patients sedated until death comes but stops short of legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.
After years of tense debate over the issue and a long journey through Parliament, the bill was passed by the country鈥檚 lower house and Senate on Wednesday. The text is the result of a consensus of Socialist and conservative lawmakers.
The new law will allow patients to request 鈥渄eep, continuous sedation altering consciousness until death,鈥 but only when their condition is likely to lead to a quick death. Doctors will be allowed to stop life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. Sedation and painkillers will be allowed 鈥渆ven if they may shorten the person鈥檚 life.鈥
The bill will also apply to patients who are unable to express their will, following a process that includes consultation with family members.
The methods can involve medicating patients until they die naturally of their illness or until they starve. Some doctors, however, say it may be more human to euthanize.
鈥淓veryone must be able to decide how to live the very last moments,鈥 lawmaker Alain Claeys, co-author of the bill, said in a speech at the National Assembly. 鈥淥ur text has one purpose: fighting a 鈥榖ad dying鈥 that still happens too often in France.鈥
The other co-author of the bill, conservative party lawmaker Jean Leonetti, said the text aimed to tell the French: 鈥淎t end of your life, if the suffering is unbearable, you鈥檒l be allowed to get to sleep, soothed and serene.鈥
The debate over end-of-life conditions has been revived in France due to the case of Vincent Lambert, a Frenchman in a coma since a car accident eight years ago. His family is divided over whether to continue care for him.
Europe鈥檚 top human rights court ruled in June that doctors could stop treatments for him. Legal proceedings are continuing, however, since Lambert鈥檚 parents have asked for a legal representative to be designated.
The new bill will also force doctors to follow end-of-life instructions for terminal sedation and stopping treatments.
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