By Enyichukwu Enemanna
French Parliament on Tuesday voted in support of a bill seeking to legalise assisted dying, paving the way for active euthanasia and assisted dying under what campaigners say would still have one of the strictest conditions in Europe.
Active euthanasia refers to where a caregiver induces death at the request of the patient, while assisted dying is where doctors provide the patient with the means to end their life themselves.
A Guardian report says after an emotional session, deputies passed the first reading of the bill by a vote of 305 to 199.
They also unanimously backed a less contentious law establishing a right to palliative care in specialist end-of-life institutions.
The votings mark the beginning of a long parliamentary process that will require the bills to move on to the Senate, and then back to the parliament for a second reading.
The government has described the right-to-die law as “an ethical response to the need to support the sick and the suffering”, insisting it was “neither a new right nor a freedom … but a balance between respect and personal autonomy”.
The bill would allow a medical team to decide if a patient is eligible to “gain access to a lethal substance when they have expressed the wish”. Patients would be able to use it themselves or have it administered by a nurse or doctor “if they are in no condition physically to do so themselves”.
Patients must meet a number of strict conditions. They must be over 18, hold French citizenship or residency, and suffer from a “serious and incurable, life-threatening, advanced or terminal illness” that is “irreversible”.
The disease must cause “constant, unbearable physical or psychological suffering” that cannot be addressed by medical treatment, and the patient must be capable of “expressing freely and in an informed manner” their wish to end their life.
The bill referred to in France as a law on “end of life” or “aid in dying” rather than “assisted dying” or “euthanasia” – was backed by most of President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist MPs and their allies and by the left, with most right and far-right deputies voting against.
Right-to-die campaigners have welcomed the law, though describing it as relatively modest in scope. “It’s a foot in the door, which will be important for what comes next,” said Stéphane Gemmani of the ADMD association.
