End of life: is the law likely to favor assistance in dying to the detriment of medical support?

Relieve pain rather than die. This is the solution favored by many people with severe and degenerative disabilities such as patients with Charcot disease. The latter could, however, benefit from an early end of life thanks to the text of the law which arrives at the National Assembly on Monday and which provides for assistance in dying for patients in the advanced or terminal phase of their pathology.

Could this solution then take precedence over medical support? This is what some representatives of people with disabilities fear, like Gaëlle Drewnowski, a health law lawyer. According to her, this bill is a way of making up for the lack of resources allocated to the care of people with disabilities. “We must not hide, there is an economic reason. Quality follow-up lasts longer so it is more expensive than killing people.”

“It’s easier to ask to die than to access quality care”

Still according to the lawyer, the text sends a negative message to patients who would then become burdens on society, because they are inactive and therefore unprofitable. Faced with this implicit discourse, some could therefore favor assisted dying. “It’s easier to ask to die than to access quality care. I know from experience that pain centers have very long appointment times. It’s at least six months for a first consultation Whereas here, in this bill, there would be 48 hours for the person to decide or withdraw.

And Gaëlle Drewnowski concludes by affirming that, rather than offering assisted suicide, it would be preferable to develop the provision of care to relieve all those who need it.