From December 9, the convention on the end of life will begin its work. Nearly 150 French citizens, drawn by lot, will have to answer a question: “Is the end-of-life support framework adapted to the different situations encountered or should any changes be introduced?” “For Katherine Icardi-Lazareff, the answer is clear, the law must be changed and “France is 20 years behind”.
Since September 2021, doctors have diagnosed him with Charcot’s disease. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a serious and incurable neurodegenerative disease that leads to the progressive death of motor neurons. Progressive paralysis of the lower limbs, hands, jaw, “the disease evolved very quickly in just one year”, notes Katherine Icardi-Lazareff, 67 years old. “I can no longer walk, I am now in a wheelchair and now eating and breathing is becoming more and more complicated. Prisoner in her own body, she wants to die with dignity.
Towards a Belgian model?
In France, the end of life of terminally ill patients has been regulated since 2016 by the Claeys-Leonetti law. Euthanasia and assisted suicide are prohibited, on the other hand it allows “deep and continuous sedation” until death for terminally ill patients when their vital prognosis is engaged in the short term. Legislation too restrictive for Katherine Icardi-Lazareff who went to Belgium in April 2022.
Accompanied by her childhood best friend, she met a doctor in Liège to find out about the procedures and the environment. “He was very human and explained to me that until the last moment I could say no. Euthanasia has been legalized in Belgium since May 2002. Reserved at the time for adults, it was extended in 2014 to minors, with no age limit, even if it remains extremely rare.
The Belgian law on euthanasia is very strict in its application and ensures the patient’s request, his capacity for discernment and the relevance of his choice with regard to his state of health. It stipulates that the patient must be in “a hopeless medical situation” and report “constant and unbearable physical or psychological suffering which cannot be appeased and which results from a serious and incurable accidental or pathological condition”. Emmanuel Macron rightly confessed a penchant for the “Belgian model” during his election campaign last March.
A law on the end of life in 2023?
“I don’t have much time left to live.” Katherine Icardi-Lazareff arrested the President of the Republic by mail this summer. She asks to die with dignity and in her country, when, of her free choice, she has decided “to say stop to the disease”. According to her, the delay in France, “country of human rights and freedom to choose” is incomprehensible.
The office of the Head of State sent him a response on October 24th. “The evolution of the legal framework which governs the end of life is no longer a taboo subject”, can we read in a generic letter which details the launch of the debates on the end of life without answering the questions of Katherine Icardi-Lazareff .
This citizens’ convention, organized by the economic, social and environmental council (Cese), should end in March. It is on the basis of these debates and the work of professionals that the government will decide whether or not to change the Claeys-Leonetti law and perhaps legalize euthanasia or assisted suicide in France.