The fears and hopes raised by France’s ‘end of life’ bill
The French government is preparing draft legislation to give the medical profession greater legal powers to help with a patient’s will to die, with the possible introduction of assisted suicide which, like euthanasia, is currently prohibited in France. But the reform faces many obstacles, notably opposition from some sectors of the medical profession and religious leaders. The issue is of prime concern for an association campaigning for the rights of the elderly, the CNaV, whose mostly women members include current and former healthcare professionals. In this report by Sarah Boucault, they voice their different views, including how obtaining the right to die echoes their previous combat for access to abortion.
TheThe French government is currently preparing draft legislation aimed at introducing a legal framework for wider powers for the medical profession in assisting the ending of the life of a person in serious physical sufferance and who wishes to die. President Emmanuel Macron wants the completed bill to be submitted before parliament at the end of this summer.
