FRANCE – France is not an island
24 May 2022
After various legislative proposals to legalise voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide in France failed due to political manoeuvring in recent years, a different path may enable new consensus.
When presenting his election programme, the now re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron had announced the creation of a “Convention Citoyenne” (a lay body, consisting of a group of citizens) which would deal with the matter in depth and make recommendations. This may lead to broader support for future solutions regarding freedom of choice at one’s own end in life.
However, end-of-life issues have been debated in France for many years and the polls speak for themselves [1]. It can well be assumed that politicians simply lack the courage to put aside personal fears, convictions and vested interests, and to listen to the clear wishes of their citizens. Will a “Convention Citoyenne” change this?
Those who follow the debates in France on self-determination regarding one’s own end in life cannot help but have the impression that dying and death are not the same in France as in other countries. The political decision-makers keep shying away from making any decisions on this topic, instead of taking the opportunity to look across the borders, for example to Switzerland. After all, voluntary euthanasia and/or assisted suicide have become legal in many European countries in recent years. An in-depth discussion of the different models and of the experience gained from their practical implementation could greatly reduce existing fears and create a solid basis for arriving at a reasonable solution for a legislative proposal which would find the support of a majority in the French parliament.
In any case, an individual’s freedom of choice must be at the centre, a freedom which French citizens have wanted for many years. Today’s Loi Claeys-Léonetti [2] does not offer genuine self-determination over how and when one’s own life ends; insufficient implementation of existing law, as opponents like to claim, is therefore no valid argument against legalising voluntary euthanasia and/or assisted suicide. Even if, for example, living wills (advance directives / advance decisions) become more widespread and palliative care services are improved – both are important and desirable of course – there will always be individuals in France whose quality of life is limited to a degree that is unacceptable for them personally and for which medicine has no answers.
Letting these persons continue to suffer, to resort to a risky suicide attempt, to obtain a lethal medication illegally or to travel abroad secretly is an affront to those for whom continuing to live is mainly a torment. Why should they be denied, as is the case today, the right to prepare for their end in peace and to die at home as they wish?
France is not an island and there is no reason to deny citizens the exercise of a right that has been exercised elsewhere for many years. It is to be hoped that those who are part of a future “Convention Citoyenne” will be open-minded and critical enough to look at the realities and the practical experiences of other countries with their respective models without bias.
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[1] http://www.dignitas.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=138&lang=fr
[2] LOI n° 2016-87 du 2 février 2016 créant de nouveaux droits en faveur des malades et des personnes en fin de vie; https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000031970253?r=hMFAQjT2cS
