French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday that new legislation will be drafted this year to address end-of-life options, including the possibility of assisted dying.
The announcement follows the release of a report indicating that most French citizens support legalizing medically assisted suicide and euthanasia. The report was released on Sunday and indicated that a large majority of a panel composed of 184 randomly selected citizens supported “active assistance in dying.” It offered different options involving legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Macron did not provide details about what options the bill will allow, but he noted that the panel’s conclusions will be incorporated in the bill to be drawn up jointly by the government and legislators “by the end of the summer.”
Assisted suicide, where medical personnel give someone the means to kill themselves, or voluntary euthanasia, where a physician plays an active role in ending a person’s life at that person’s request, are currently permissible in several countries in Europe.
France’s national council of doctors, l’Ordre des medecins, said it opposes involving doctors in helping people kill themselves. The medical ethics regulatory body says any change to the law must include a “conscience clause” allowing doctors to opt out of administering lethal drugs.