French lawmakers unveiled proposals on Friday for a Bill that would allow doctors to plunge terminally-ill patients into a deep sleep until they die, reviving the deeply divisive end-of-life debate.
The Bill would also make “living wills” drafted by people who do not want to be kept alive artificially when they are too ill to decide, legally binding on doctors rather than merely consultative as they are now.
Euthanasia is illegal in France but Francois Hollande pledged in his 2012 presidential campaign to look into an issue that divides a country where heart-wrenching end-of-life stories continue to make headlines.
A 2005 French law already legalises passive euthanasia, where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life.
But the proposals go a step further, allowing doctors to couple this with “deep and continuous sedation” for terminally-ill patients who are conscious and whose treatment is not working or for those who decide to stop taking medication.
This type of sedation can also be used on patients who are not able to make decisions, in certain
circumstances.
The debate on euthanasia regularly opposes those who say the sanctity of life must be respected at all costs and those who believe terminally-ill patients who suffer unbearable pain must be allowed to die. Hollande said Friday that a parliamentary debate on the issue would be held in January.