France approves assisted suicide law

The National Assembly in France has voted to approve assisted suicide legislation, despite being rejected three times by the French Senate.

MPs in the National Assembly voted 291 to 241 to approve the bill, which will allow assisted suicide for those with a ‘serious and incurable’ illness ‘in an advanced or terminal stage’. The patient would need to make an application to a doctor who would the make a decision within 15 days. After two days of reflection, the patient could then take medication to end their life.

The legislation has now been approved by the National Assembly four times, but rejected by the upper house of the French Parliament, the Senate. Nevertheless, under the French constitution, the Prime Minister can allow the National Assembly to have the final say. Although the French President, Emmanuel Macron, backs assisted suicide laws, PM Sébastien Lecornu is known to have reservations about the bill.

Ahead of the vote, the Prime Minister’s office said that while the lower house had debated the legislation in detail, the Senate had failed to give the bill a level of examination that met “both the aspirations of its supporters and concerns of those worried about its implementation”.

Lecornu said that he plans to refer parts of the legislation to France’s Constitutional Council for further scrutiny before it becomes law. The nine-person Council can check whether a bill complies with the French Constitution.

The French PM has asked the Council to focus on three areas: the two-day reflection period, which has been criticised as being too short; the ability of patients with impaired judgement to make informed decisions; and the role of healthcare facilities focused on palliative care in administering assisted suicide.

There has been resistance in France to the assisted suicide laws from various quarters, including some parts of the medical profession, and the Catholic Church. French bishops said in a statement earlier this year that: “Palliative care is the only truly effective response to the difficult situations of the end of life,” concluding, “We do not care for life by giving death.”