Citizen Convention approves most of the report to legalize euthanasia

First modification: 04/02/2023 – 17:11

France would be closer to the legalization of euthanasia. The Citizen Convention voted by majority this Sunday, April 2, to regularize it.

The final report that favors the authorization of “active assistance in dying” received 92% votes in favor, 3% against, and 5% abstention.

The Convention, made up of 184 citizens randomly chosen last September by the government, has since discussed this issue in coordination with health workers. After the election of the committee, the authorities had announced that the group would deliver its conclusions in March 2023.

At the same time, in recent months local governments have organized meetings in the regions to discuss the eventual measure.

Since his re-election campaign, President Emmanuel Macron promised to open the debate on euthanasia, which is why he is expected to rule in favor of its possible adoption in the country.

However, the high favorability of the final report of the Convention is expected to lead to a vote in Parliament or even a referendum.

At the same time, and as previously announced by the Élysée Palace, talks would be held with legislators from all political parties in order to find the broadest possible consensus.

“The necessary time will be taken and all guarantees must be given to ensure the conditions for an orderly, serene and enlightened debate,” the Presidency announced last fall.

Recent polls across the nation have shown that the majority of citizens support the potential legislation.

Given the bans, some French patients are now traveling to other European countries to seek more options to end their lives.

“Is the end-of-life support framework adapted to the different situations encountered or should changes be introduced?”

This is the question that the 184 members of the Convention have been discussing in recent months and the focus of the foreseeable new discussions, both in the Legislature and among citizens.

According to current regulations in France, included in the Claeys-Léonetti law of 2016, caregivers are allowed to put patients on the brink of death under irreversible sedation.

In this regard, doctors may discontinue life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. Sedation and painkillers are authorized “even if they may shorten the person’s life.”

But the legislation stops short of authorizing “active assistance in dying,” considered by some to be “assisted suicide” or an act of euthanasia.

And opposition lawmakers say France “should not go beyond” the current law.

In the European Union, euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain under certain conditions. In Switzerland, assisted suicide is allowed when the patient himself takes a lethal dose of drugs.

One of the cases that fueled the debate in the region was that of an 82-year-old Italian man with atypical Parkinson’s, who, having this option prohibited in his country, underwent euthanasia in Switzerland. However, he would have preferred to receive assisted death in his own country and surrounded by his relatives, according to his French daughter at the time.

Like him, there are many other patients in France and other territories who travel to other countries in search of euthanasia.

For now, it is expected that the French president, who has been promoting a change to current legislation for some time, will receive the members of the Citizens’ Convention on Monday, April 3, at the Élysée.

With AP and local media