Euthanasia and assisted suicide: The commission worsens the bill
During the social affairs commission, MPs adopted the law renamed the law relative to the right to assisted dying which would legalise without distinction euthanasia and assisted suicide.
By refusing to clearly pronounce the words “euthanasia” and “assisted suicide”, the authors of the bill are contributing to maintaining a dramatic confusion. On such a serious subject, the choice of words has a determining ethical and symbolic importance: to name, is to recognise the reality.
Whereas the initial bill – a year ago – claimed to meet exceptional end of life situations, the modifications adopted considerably extend its scope. By validating the “advanced or terminal phase” condition, MPs are doing away with the end-of-life criterion and are potentially opening up access to administered death for those suffering from chronic diseases and mental disorders.
Even more shocking, the ability to express a free and enlightened will, is treated with flippancy. The text thus presumes discernment for those under trusteeship or suffering from mental disorders, with no obligation for a thorough evaluation by a psychologist or a psychiatrist.
The debates revealed the true intention of the bill : to establish “assisted dying” as a medical option among others, in the same way as palliative care.
The care system in France is confronting serious shortfalls which are of concern to the French public, who confirm the fact at every survey. The priority afforded to euthanasia in the parliamentary schedule is the fruit of a distressing logic of reverse solidarity.
The reporter for the text has assumed the role of guarantor of a claimed equilibrium, rejecting certain amendments like the one aimed at deleting the threatened life expectancy criterion or the one which opens the door to euthanasia for minors or in anticipation for Alzheimer cases for example. Such apparent equilibrium, intended to reassure both those demanding a strict framework and the undecided, cannot mask the reality: by removing a fundamental prohibition – that of causing death –, the text breaks away from the fraternity which it claims and no safeguards which it claims to establish will be able to hold firm.
Alliance VITA is organising a vast mobilisation on 12th May all over France calling for more care and rejecting euthanasia.
Further information is available on the Alliance VITA web site.
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