French MPs propose law to ease suffering of terminally ill

France President Francois Hollande at the 70th anniversary to commemorate the liberation of Paris from Nazi occupation during World War II, in Paris' town hall on August 25, 2014. French lawmakers unveiled proposals on December 12, 2014 for a Bill that would allow doctors to plunge terminally ill patients into a deep sleep until they die. PHOTO | JOEL SAGET |

By  AFP

What you need to know:

  • The Bill would also make “living wills” drafted by people who do not want to be kept alive artificially when they are too ill to decide, legally binding on doctors rather than merely consultative as they are now.
  • But the proposals go a step further, allowing doctors to couple this with “deep and continuous sedation” for terminally ill patients who are conscious and whose treatment is not working or for those who decide to stop taking medication.

PARIS

French lawmakers unveiled proposals Friday for a Bill that would allow doctors to plunge terminally ill patients into a deep sleep until they die, reviving the deeply divisive end-of-life debate.

The Bill would also make “living wills” drafted by people who do not want to be kept alive artificially when they are too ill to decide, legally binding on doctors rather than merely consultative as they are now.

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Euthanasia is illegal in France but Francois Hollande pledged in his 2012 presidential campaign to look into an issue that divides a country where heart-wrenching end-of-life stories continue to make headlines.

A 2005 French law already legalises passive euthanasia, where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life.

SANCTITY OF LIFE
But the proposals go a step further, allowing doctors to couple this with “deep and continuous sedation” for terminally ill patients who are conscious and whose treatment is not working or for those who decide to stop taking medication.

This type of sedation can also be used on patients who are not able to make decisions, in certain circumstances.

The debate on euthanasia regularly opposes those who say the sanctity of life must be respected at all costs and those who believe terminally ill patients who suffer unbearable pain must be allowed to die.

Hollande said Friday that a parliamentary debate on the issue would be held in January.

DYING WITH DIGNITY
Last year, several particularly poignant cases shook France.

In November 2013, two couples in their 80s committed suicide in Paris and left notes explaining their acts.

One of the couples took their lives in the luxury Le Lutetia hotel, having asphyxiated themselves after putting plastic bags on their heads.

They had ordered room service in the morning and were found by staff, lying hand-in-hand, with a typewritten note claiming “the right to die with dignity”.

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