France to debate euthanasia law

A national debate on euthanasia has been launched by French President Emmanuel Macron after polls demonstrated support for a law change.

Under the current law in France, last updated in 2016, doctors can keep terminally ill patients sedated until death but not assist in their deaths.

Terminally-ill patients can request to be kept in a “deep, continuous sedation altering consciousness until death”, only if their condition is causing them "great suffering" and is likely to lead to a quick death.

Doctors are allowed to stop life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. Sedation and painkillers are allowed “even if they may shorten the person’s life”.

Euthanasia is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain under certain conditions. French nationals have traveled to access it in other nations.

Last week, assisted suicide proposals were officially lodged in the Scottish Parliament by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur. Michael Veitch, Scottish Parliamentary Officer at CARE, told the BBC:

“It is deeply sad to see proposals of this nature return to the Scottish Parliament today. Evidence from other countries clearly shows that legalising assisted suicide opens a Pandora’s Box of harms.

“Safeguards always fail. Pressure leads to expansion of legislation, making vulnerable and marginalised groups eligible for a state-assisted death. This is why no major disability organisation supports assisted suicide, and why many in the disability community are ardently opposed.

“No guarantees can be made by today’s MSPs about the shape of ‘assisted dying’ legislation in years to come. No adequate set of safeguards have been devised in other countries where assisted suicide is legal. Given these facts, a change in the law should be unthinkable for MSPs.”