French lawmakers approve terminal sedation, not euthanasia
PARIS – France’s Parliament has approved a bill that will let doctors keep terminally ill patients sedated until death comes but stops short of legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.
After years of tense debate over the issue and a long journey through Parliament, the bill was passed by the country’s lower house and Senate on Wednesday. The text is the result of a consensus of Socialist and conservative lawmakers.
The new law will allow patients to request “deep, continuous sedation altering consciousness until death” but only when their condition is likely to lead to a quick death. Doctors will be allowed to stop life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition. Sedation and painkillers will be allowed “even if they may shorten the person’s life.”
The bill also will apply to patients who are unable to express their will, following a process that includes consultation with family members.
The methods can involve medicating patients until they die naturally of their illness or until they starve. Some doctors, however, say it may be more humane to euthanize.
The new bill also will force doctors to follow end-of-life instructions regarding terminal sedation and stopping treatments, whether they are expressed by the persons themselves or written in advance.
People also can designate a “trustworthy person” whose opinion would be predominant in case of patients who are no longer able to express their will.
The bill specifies that patients can choose to be sedated at home or in the hospital.