Failing to see the debate on “The right to die with dignity” open up really on the political ground, and in front of the incapacity of the government and the Parliament to seize this subject of company, it is by the legal way that the things could evolve. The Swiss association Dignitas, activist for the right to choose his end of life, was to file, Wednesday, September 22, a request before the Council of State accompanied by a priority question of constitutionality (QPC) so that the Constitutional Council can rule .
The subject has recently advanced by the same path in Germany and Austria, while the right to assisted suicide already exists under certain conditions in Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain or Canada. Seized by several associations including Dignitas, the German Constitutional Court ruled, on February 26, 2020, that the right to end one’s life independently is part of the fundamental right of personality and human dignity. A few months later, in December, the Austrian Constitutional Court ruled in the same direction.
“Now is the time to do it in France, even if the procedure to reach the Constitutional Court is more complex there”, explains Claudia Magri, communications manager at Dignitas. The association founded in 1998 now has some 10,000 members, including more than a thousand in France. She accompanied 35 French residents to their death in Switzerland in 2020 and 43 in 2019.
Concretely, the procedure put in place with the assistance of the lawyer at the Council of State and the Court of Cassation Patrice Spinosi involves a request for the repeal of the decree listing the poisonous substances prohibited for medical prescription, in particular the pentobarbital. The QPC which comes in support, submitted to the assessment of the high administrative court before its possible transmission to the Constitutional Council, asks to censor the articles of the public health code which prevent the slightest exception allowing everyone to choose their end of life. and punish with prison the persons who would bring their assistance to such an outcome.
“Strict control”
“We are not asking the Constitutional Council to define these exceptions but to require the legislator to himself choose the valves to be included in the law in order to guarantee a harmonious development of our law”, explains Me Spinosi. The National Assembly which was to debate on April 8 the bill “giving and guaranteeing a free and chosen end of life” tabled by the deputy Olivier Falorni (Charente-Maritime, Liberties and Territories) was prevented from leading the discussion to its term due to a barrier of more than 4,000 amendments. The government preferring for its part to procrastinate rather than undertake a debate on this delicate subject to which the French are, however, according to the polls, largely in favor.
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