Palliative care, active assistance in dying: Emmanuel Macron wants to move forward on the end-of-life law

2023-11-09 02:15:24

A draft of the end-of-life bill has been lying on the desk of the President of the Republic for several weeks. The government has taken its time since last April and the submission of the report of the Citizens’ Convention on the end of life to the President of the Republic. Emmanuel Macron then quickly committed to implementing a reform. But the subject is sensitive, and the relative majority at work in the Assembly does not necessarily bode well for very calm debates. But the head of state has, it seems, decided to take the second step.

According to our information, Emmanuel Macron invited several of his ministers to the Élysée this Tuesday, November 14, to move forward on the issue. Will notably be present the Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne, the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau, the Minister Delegate in charge of Territorial Organization and health professions Agnès Firmin Le Bodo? as well as the Minister of Solidarity and Families Aurore Bergé.

A “law of freedom and respect”

This meeting should enable progress on several subjects. Starting with the timetable for the text, which was expected by the end of the year in the Council of Ministers. The content of the bill will undoubtedly also be discussed, although very little information has leaked at this stage on the text. We just know that the draft of the project submitted by Agnès Firmin Le Bodo to Emmanuel Macron is based on several aspects, including the development of palliative care or the creation of active assistance in dying, including the modalities of implementation. work still raises many questions.

Within the government, certain ministers involved in the matter consider it preferable, for example, not to include palliative care and active assistance in dying in the same bill. On this last point, the case of certain patients who, due to their condition, would be physically incapable of killing themselves by self-administering the lethal product, would still raise questions. We still know nothing about Emmanuel Macron’s position, which a minister describes as “shared from a personal and intimate point of view” on the subject.

During his speech to the Grand Orient of France, the Head of State assured that the “right to die with dignity” would be the subject of a “law of freedom and respect”. Without going into detail about the file.