Macron says France will prepare ‘end of life’ bill this year

President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France must improve the availability of palliative care and there would be a draft bill by the end of the summer on whether some form of assisted dying should be allowed.

He said the bill would build on the work of a group of 184 randomly appointed French citizens who have debated the issue since December. They concluded their work this weekend with 76% of them saying they favoured allowing some form of assistance to die, for those who want it.

Macron did not say whether he wanted euthanasia or assisted suicide to be allowed in France or if the bill would include either or both. He said thinking on the matter would continue by then but consensus was important on such a sensitive matter.

France’s national council of doctors, l’Ordre des medecins, has said it opposes involving doctors in helping people kill themselves.

Assisted suicide – where medical personnel give someone the means to kill themselves – or voluntary euthanasia – where a physician plays an active role to end a person’s life at that person’s request – is allowed in several countries in Europe.

via Reuters