The criterion according to which patients must have their “vital prognosis engaged in the short or medium term” to be eligible for assistance in dying was deleted, Thursday, May 16, by the deputies in committee during the examination of the bill on the end of life. It was replaced by the notion of affection “in advanced or terminal phase”.
“We are no longer in the same law at all (…) It is not the balance of the law that was desired”regretted the president of the special commission responsible for examining the bill relating to support for the sick and the end of life, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, who participated in the drafting of the bill when she was minister.
The deputies defended their desire to clarify the text, given the difficulty of defining the medium term. “The short or medium term is not defined by the High Authority of Health”argued Renaissance MP Anne-Laurence Petel.
Removal of an “essential lock”, according to opponents
For opponents of this amendment, the notion of “advanced or terminal phase” remains unclear. They especially regret the disappearance of the expression “vital prognosis”. “Assistance in dying can only be considered at the end of life”estimated Renaissance rapporteur Didier Martin.
Les Républicains MP Annie Genevard expressed her “astoundment” after removing this “essential lock”. She and several MPs fear further expansions of the law during upcoming discussions.
The general rapporteur of the commission, Olivier Falorni (member of the MoDem group), tried to reassure the opponents of this modification, recalling that another criterion required by law was that the patient suffers from an illness “serious and incurable”.
“Serious and incurable defines that your vital prognosis is not only compromised, but [qu’]he is even seriously, very seriously committed. And the advanced or terminal phase strengthens this system”, he argued. The text will be debated in the hemicycle from May 27.