On the help of dying, six dismantled untruths-Liberation

The examination of the end of life bill resumed in May in the National Assembly. If the support and palliative care component is consensus, the opening of a right under conditions for help to die is debated. But even legitimate, fears cannot justify propagating false information in the face of the severity of the issues. Here we want to contribute to the debate by re -examining the main arguments mobilized in recent weeks.

« The current law is sufficient, but insufficiently known and applied. »

This argument contradicts all the opinions and works carried out until then which unanimously recognize the reality of situations of suffering that nothing can appease and that according to the very opinion of the National Academy of Medicine « It would be inhuman not to recognize (1) ». It is in the name of this unanswered suffering in the current legislative framework that an opening towards help is envisaged, especially for people with serious and incurable diseases and whose vital prognosis is not initiated in the short term. This lack in supporting the end of life associated with the recognition of a right to self -determination is the very foundation of the legislation on the aid to die in countries that have declined it.

« Opening help to die for exceptional alleged situations is taking the risk of a slippery slope. »

The argument that these situations would be too minority for justi