PARIS – France’s National Assembly is expected to grant final approval Wednesday to legislation that would allow certain adults with incurable illnesses to obtain lethal medication, marking a major step in the country’s long-running debate over end-of-life care.
The lower house is broadly expected to pass the measure after supporting it in three earlier readings, bringing parliament’s consideration of the proposal to a close more than three years after it was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron.
At the center of the bill is medically assisted suicide. Under the proposal, eligible patients would be permitted to receive lethal medication and administer it themselves, subject to tight safeguards. Assistance from a doctor or nurse would be allowed only when a patient’s physical condition makes self-administration impossible.
The bill has faced resistance in the Senate, where conservatives hold the majority and rejected the text. But under France’s legislative rules, the National Assembly can have the final word when the two chambers fail to agree.
Senate President Gérard Larcher has said he intends to send the adopted bill to the Constitutional Council, which would have up to one month to assess whether it conforms to France’s Constitution. The law would not take effect until that review is complete.
The bill lays out strict eligibility rules
Anyone seeking access to the end-of-life measure would need to be at least 18 years old and be either a French citizen or a legal resident of France.
A doctor would also be required to consult a team of health care professionals before confirming that the patient has a serious, incurable and life-threatening illness. The patient must be in an advanced or terminal stage of the disease, suffering from pain that cannot be eased or is considered unbearable, and making the request voluntarily.
Lawmakers specified that psychological suffering alone would not qualify a person for medically assisted dying.
People with severe psychiatric disorders or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s would not be eligible.
Patients would initiate the request, to be reviewed by health professionals within 15 days, and then confirm it after a period of reflection lasting at least two days.
If approved, they could take the lethal medication at the time and in the place of their choice, including at home or in a health care facility, in the presence of their loved ones if they wish.
On the chosen date, the doctor or nurse would have to verify that the person still wishes to proceed and remain nearby to intervene if complications arise.
France’s national health insurance system would cover all associated costs.
Many French people support the changes
A 2023 report found that most French people are in favor of legalizing end-of-life options, and opinion polls have shown support increasing over the past two decades.
The Association for the Right to Die With Dignity said the law would allow people “to choose to end unbearable suffering, freely and with full awareness.” Its president, Jonathan Denis, said in a statement that “a law that creates a new right never forces anyone to exercise it. It does, however, ensure that every person … can remain at the heart of medical decisions that concern them and have their wishes respected.”
Opponents argue the measure could put pressure on older people and those living with illness or disabilities.
In an open letter to Macron, the anti-euthanasia group Alliance Vita said “every effort must be made to ensure that people who are suffering have immediate access to palliative care and support. Presenting death as a desirable solution can never be an acceptable response to suffering and is contrary to human dignity.”
In the past years, many French people have traveled to neighboring countries where medically assisted suicide or euthanasia is legal.
Medically assisted suicide generally involves a patient voluntarily taking lethal medication prescribed by a doctor. Euthanasia involves a doctor or other health care professional administering a lethal injection at the patient’s request.
Euthanasia is legal under certain conditions in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Colombia, Australia and New Zealand. Some of those countries also allow assisted suicide, which is legal in Switzerland, Austria and several U.S. states.
