The government must unveil “by the end of the summer” its text to create “active assistance in dying”, the first drafts of which are scrutinized by both defenders of legalization of assisted suicide, even euthanasia, and by opponents.
The opinion of the National Academy of Medicine says to take “into account the will of the legislator to modify the current framework of the law on the end of life”. In this context, it agrees to adjust “in a framed way the current device by the opening of new rights to help to die as less badly as possible, by accepting exceptionally assisted suicide, under imperative conditions”. Until now, the prospect of a new law crystallizes the opposition of caregivers who hammer that “to give death is not a treatment”.
Implement strict safeguards
The Academy of Medicine insists on the need to put in place strict guarantees, if assisted suicide were recognized by the legislator, citing for example “a collegial evaluation intervening upstream of any decision” or “an authorization and prescription without administration of the lethal product by doctors and caregivers, which leads to ultimate freedom of choice for the patient”.
It also stresses that “recognition of assisted suicide makes it imperative to set up a palliative care offer throughout the territory corresponding to the needs and accompanied by the necessary means”.
In addition, it wishes to “remove euthanasia”, consisting of the administration by a third party of a lethal product to a person who requests it. The institution justifies this opinion by the “strong moral and symbolic significance” of the act but also because “professionals and members of end-of-life support associations oppose it and fear this practice”.
“Euthanasia, unlike assisted suicide, violates the Hippocratic Oath ‘I will never cause death’, taken by any doctor”, explains in particular the institution.