Presented as the societal reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term, the opening of a “assisted dying” appears in the bill on end of life, which will be presented on Wednesday April 10 to the Council of Ministers. In return for the possibility for a patient to resort to a lethal procedure, strictly supervised by medical advice, the government claims to want to guarantee access to palliative care.
The Head of State promised a ten-year development plan for this sector, several measures of which appear in the law. Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, reveals to World the content of this plan and its financing. She explains that she wants to give “a strong impulse right away” on the creation of beds in hospitals and on home care.
The credibility of the government’s commitment that any person wishing to “assisted dying” can actually be offered palliative care. The executive hopes, with the announcement of this plan, thwart opposition to the bill, the examination of which will begin on May 27 in the National Assembly.
What is the general philosophy of the palliative care development plan that you have?
Its philosophy is to ensure access for all, including children, to palliative care which aims to relieve pain and physical discomfort, and to soothe psychological suffering. France is a great country in terms of public health, but we are today in the low average of the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for palliative care. Only 30% of minors and 50% of adults who need it have access to it. So, it is a question of improving the means and the organization for all the actors, all the patients, throughout the territory. For this, we relied on the report of Professor Franck Chauvin, almost all of whose proposals are included in the plan.
This plan appears, in part, in the end-of-life bill desired by the President of the Republic, a balanced text which is based on two pillars. On the one hand, in connection with the ten-year strategy, the broadening of the concept of palliative care to that of supportive care, that is to say a more global and earlier approach, and provisions on the rights of patients, in particular the right to visit nursing homes and hospitals. On the other, assistance in dying. The Council of State has just issued its opinion which intends to detail certain points of the assisted dying procedure. We will examine it before presenting the bill to the next council of ministers.
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