“We, deputies from different groups, demand a law of free choice which would not impose anything on anyone”

2023-07-12 08:00:32

For many years, our fellow citizens have expressed themselves more and more in favor of changing the legislative framework for end-of-life support and allowing the legalization of active assistance in dying, within a very precisely defined framework. They also demand access to quality palliative care everywhere and for everyone.

The citizens’ convention on the end of life has confirmed this once again. The participants, after twenty-seven days of assiduous and absolutely remarkable work, estimated at 82% that the current framework does not respond to all the situations encountered and expressed themselves at 75.6% in favor of active assistance in dying. .

However, never before has our country voted such a freedom law for French women and men suffering from an advanced or terminal stage of a serious and incurable condition, whose physical or psychological suffering is unbearable and unappeasable. . We are committed to providing them with this long-awaited legislative framework.

We, parliamentarians from different political groups in the National Assembly, no longer want to turn a blind eye to this unspeakable suffering, to these demands of our fellow citizens when life has become nothing but survival. Yes, we claim a law of free choice which would impose nothing on anyone and which would respect all consciences.

Let’s not oppose active assistance in dying and palliative care. Let’s strengthen the palliative culture and equip all departments with palliative care units, while building on the work already done by the mobile teams in place and the opening of identified palliative care beds.

The Austrian, Belgian and Portuguese examples

We have the will to move forward and look at what is being implemented by our neighbours. Let’s look at Austria, which legalized active assistance in dying in 2021 and which passed a major plan for palliative care equivalent to 12 euros per inhabitant, while our fifth national plan, for the period 2021-2024 , provides only 2.50 euros per inhabitant. Let’s look at Belgium, which, in 2002, voted to decriminalize active assistance in dying as well as universal access to palliative care and strengthened patients’ rights. Belgium has more palliative care beds per 100,000 inhabitants than France. Let’s look more recently at Portugal, which has also embarked on this path of humanity for those who do not wish to experience the agony phase of their illness in the face of refractory suffering.

We don’t look away caregivers who would be opposed to any change in the law and we deeply respect them. But we also face the recent investigation by the Federation of hospital and personal assistance establishmentswhich shows that 67% of caregivers questioned are in favor of a law establishing active assistance in dying, including 57% of caregivers working in palliative care.

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