end of life, the Citizens’ Convention told from the inside

► Julian L., 35, civil servant

Julian, originally from Ardèche, has been living in Loire-Atlantique for four years after starting his career in Paris. His university course in political science and European politics led him to become a civil servant. This spatial planning specialist works in Nantes but lives in the countryside, in the north of the department.

“When I received a phone call at the beginning of November asking me if I wanted to take part in a citizens’ convention on the end of life, I immediately agreed. I had followed the 2020 one on the climate because I am interested in major social debates. The question of the end of life is one of these: a sensitive and difficult subject, but one that concerns us all, at the crossroads of intimacy and living together.

I arrived at the Convention without clear conviction. Like many French people, I was confronted with this painful experience of the death of loved ones. I can understand that, in these moments, one feels distraught and that one relies on the medical profession to alleviate, as much as possible, the sufferings. But it is also a subject that must be approached by taking a step back and looking up.

I made the choice not to deepen the question alone, but to walk with the other participants. It is the interest of the exercise of the Convention to bring together people with varied profiles and from different backgrounds to reflect together.

“A free, peaceful speech, a serene climate”

What struck me during the first session, from December 9 to 11, was the willingness to really listen to each other. When someone speaks, no one cuts it off. We’ll see if it lasts, but I was pleasantly surprised by this free, peaceful speech, this serene climate. It will just be necessary to be vigilant to allow everyone to express themselves and not only those who feel comfortable speaking.

In terms of substance, Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne’s opening speech set a clear framework for the role and mandate of this Citizens’ Convention. We will propose, but it is the executive who will ultimately decide whether or not to change the support framework and, possibly, the law. This should avoid the disappointments caused by the Climate Convention.

On the other hand, the first exchanges with the experts deserve to be deepened. Of course, I learned a lot from the presentation by Alain Claeys, the former co-author of the 2016 law, of the current legislative framework. Likewise, I appreciated the presentation by the Chairman of the National Consultative Ethics Committee, Professor Jean-François Delfraissy, on the ethical tension that could exist between the aspiration for freedom and the principle of solidarity with most fragile. But we should dig a little deeper into this philosophical dimension of the problem, address more in depth the relationship of our society to death and suffering, as well as its evolution over time.

At the same time, the debate has only just begun. The positive point is that all the participants in this convention seem very motivated. This first session allowed us to understand that the question posed to us is much broader and more complex than that too often exposed in the media, namely: “Should euthanasia be legalized?” Even if this question is part of the debate. Collective intelligence should make it possible to refocus the discussions and specify the priority issues. »

► Marion N., 81 years old, beneficiary of the minimum old age

Marion is one of eight people in a precarious situation that the governance committee of the End-of-Life Convention wanted to include among the citizens drawn by lot. Since the death, in 2021, of her companion, swept away by cancer, she has lived in a residence for the elderly in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis). She hardly sees the three grown children she has left after the death of her youngest in a car accident fourteen years ago. She receives the minimum old age pension – just over €900 per month – and has been an ATD Fourth World activist since 1994.

“The end of life is a subject that concerns me directly. I have a heart condition, I had two stents put in because my arteries are clogged and I have emphysema in my lungs. So good, I really want to live another nineteen years and then I’ll go and rest for good. But I want to die like my father, sleeping. I don’t want anyone picking on me.

My brother-in-law, my sister’s husband, passed away in peace thanks to palliative care. The doctors explained to him that they could do nothing more to cure his cancer but that they were going to give him medicine to avoid suffering. He had a sweet death. If I was sick, that’s what I would want too. But I understand that there are those who want it not to last too long. This is why a law may be needed to authorize assisted suicide, but at the same time a framework should be provided to avoid abuses.

“In Switzerland, you pay for your death, what! »

With my group, we also talked about euthanasia. The older ones like me said they didn’t like the term too much. For my generation, it makes you think of the war and the crimes of the Nazis. Assisted suicide is not the same thing: it is the person who decides for himself.

On the other hand, I am disappointed by the meetings with the experts. The person who came to explain the law spoke very well, but in the hemicycle it’s too noisy, and we don’t have enough time to ask all the questions and get real answers. On the other hand, the Swiss made me laugh. The two representatives of an association which accompanies patients for assisted suicide specified that the price was 10,000 Swiss francs. You pay for your death, what! Me, I don’t mind, but it’s not with my tiny pension that I can go and commit suicide in Switzerland!

Above all, I wonder what can come out of all this? Won’t the mountain give birth to a mouse, like for ecology? Because, all the same, all these discussions are interesting, but also very tiring. And again, I’m not complaining: to come, I have an hour of public transport and in the evening, I go home by taxi. But there are some who come from Perpignan, Bordeaux, Nancy or Roubaix and who work during the week. I hope we don’t bring them here for nothing. »