France is set to debate a bill that would legalise terminal sedation.

France’s parliament is set to debate a ‘deep sleep’ bill which, if passed, will allow terminally ill patients to be put into an irreversible comatose state and have life sustaining treatment withdrawn.

The bill, proposed by centre-right politician Jean Leonetti, aims to give patients with ‘hours or days to live’ the right to be placed under general anesthetic until the moment they die. “The patient has to be at the end of their life and suffering despite the treatment given,” Leonetti said. “When these elements are present, I [the doctor] am obliged to start sedation that is deep and continues until death.”

The sedation provided would be titrated such that there would be no chance of the patient regaining consciousness. Life sustaining treatment – such as artificial nutrition and hydration – may also be withdrawn.

Pro-life groups have criticised the proposed legislation, claiming it would authorize a passive form of euthanasia.  

In an open letter published in Le Monde on Monday, leaders from France’s three major monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, described the bill as a threat to human dignity:  

“We are launching a joint appeal, anxious and pressing, that this possible new law will not in any way violate this basic principle: all human life must be respected particularly at the moment when it is most fragile”.

But pro-euthanasia advocates believe the bill does not go far enough. “Everyone says there is no suffering but nobody has ever been in that position [near death],” said Jean-Luc Romero, head of the Right to Die in Dignity association.

France debates deep sleep (passive euthanasia) bill
Xavier Symons
https://www.bioedge.org/images/2008images/euthanasia_ddgdgrr.jpg
Creative commons
euthanasia
France
palliative sedation
passive euthanasia
withdrawal of life support

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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

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