France passes euthanasia law
France is edging closer to legalising some forms of euthanasia. On November 30 the National Assembly passed a law which attempts to clarify the situation of terminally ill and dying patients in the wake of the furore over a paralysed young man killed by his mother and a doctor last year. The bill still has to be ratified by the Senate. The new legislation allows dying patients to refuse burdensome treatment and also allows seriously disabled patients who are not terminally ill to request an end to their treatment. Doctors will be allowed to give increasingly stronger painkillers, even at the risk of shortening a patient’s life. Patients in a vegetative state may also have their life support stopped (including, it seems, hydration and nutrition). If they have an infection or a life-threatening complication, it will not be treated, as it will be regarded as disproportionate to the benefit. The law also stipulates that living wills must be respected.
- Prescribe morning-after pills to young teenagers, say US pediatric group - November 30, 2012
- Bahrain sentences protest docs to prison - November 28, 2012
- Terry Pratchett assisted suicide documentary wins International Emmy - November 27, 2012
More Stories
Mortality rates for American kids are rising for the first time in 50 years
US President Joe Biden is so concerned about the future of American children that he inserted a mandate for affordable...
Will Pope Francis be composted?
Will Pope Francis be composted instead of buried in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome with his predecessors? It’s unlikely. But...
The virtues and the vices of the outrageous
A Norwegian bioethicist, Anna Smajdor, recently set out a case for “Whole Body Gestational Donation” – using the wombs of...
More than 200 people have been treated with experimental CRISPR therapies
Scientists believe that CRISPR gene editing technologies will transform medicine. But how many people have been treated so far? According...
Asia-Pacific IVF market could reach US$46 billion by 2031
According to a market survey by Allied Market Research, IVF is booming in the Asia-Pacific region. The market size was...
Third global summit on human genome editing: Moving on after the He experiment
The much anticipated Third International Summit on Human Genome Editing was held in London earlier this month to explore the...