A relevant criterion of « right to die »? – release

During discussion at the National Assembly, the bill relating to the end of life devotes its article L. 1111-12-2 to the conditions of eligibility for « Help to die ». One of the five prerequisites determining the eligibility of the request for euthanasia or assisted suicide is: « Being with a serious and incurable affection, which engages the vital prognosis, in advanced or terminal phase. »

It would still be advisable to have the precise definition of a vital prognosis in advanced or terminal phase. During the hearing by the Social Affairs Committee of the National Assembly on April 2, Professor Jacques BRANGER, Chairman of the Ethics Committee of the National Academy of Medicine considered that this vital prognosis should be posed on the advanced and terminal phase, not in an alternative manner.

However, it is obvious that many people with chronic diseases today benefit from treatments allowing a quality of life over time, including in the advanced phase of evolution of their pathology. It is therefore necessary to circumscribe the framework of application of the help to die in the last appeal, explicitly and undeniable, by stating the evidence of the imminence of the death.

The High Authority for Health (HAS) must give an opinion on this subject before the end of April. It would indeed be difficult to include in the law an inadmissible criterion from the point of view of scientific justifications which ensure its relevance. The exercise