“Assistance in dying” bill: Failure to assist patients in danger
MPs adopted all the articles legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia under the deceitful term “assistance in dying”. Certainly, the Orwellian phrase “considered as a natural death” was rejected, but the positive connotation in the term “assistance in dying” adds an incentive, militant and concealment aspect.
However – as every survey has shown – the true expectation of the French public concerns equal access to care. According to Alliance VITA, the measures adopted endanger those who are weakened by sickness whose true need is to be properly relieved and accompanied whilst having access to appropriate care.
As unclear as they are unverifiable, particularly as any checks are conducted after the death of the person, the criteria for access to the so-called “assistance in dying” opens the door wide for euthanasia and assisted suicide for tens of thousands of patients who are not at their end of life. The procedure which is claimed to be “collegial” in fact provides absolute power of decision to a single doctor and is quite expeditious: a patient could be euthanised quite quickly. As for the conscience clause intended for health professionals, it is in fact limited since they have to inform their patients about the so-called “assistance in dying”, without attempting to dissuade them, and, if necessary, must redirect them to another doctor if necessary. Moreover, chemists and health establishments will be deprived of such a clause.
The text finally establishes an obstruction offence which would make France, the only nation to sentence to two years in prison for anyone opposing euthanasia or assisted suicide or attempting to dissuade or dissuading a person. This is aimed indiscriminately at carers, family members and associations. In fact, the very policy of suicide prevention would be seriously penalised.
The injustice is blatant: by refusing to penalise the incitement to assisted suicide and euthanasia, the MPs have chosen to accept double standards. For mental health specialists, despite mental health being declared as a national cause in 2025, this law constitutes both a counter-signal for suicide prevention policies and a threat for all those caring on a day-to-day basis for those weakened by psychiatric disorders and despair.
In the context of the degraded health system, there is a risk of pushing the more vulnerable towards administered death through a lack of appropriate care.
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