This is a promise from Emmanuel Macron. The bill “on the French end-of-life model” will be “presented in February,” announced Friday, December 8, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Minister for Health Professions, in an interview with Le Figaro.
On this text, as expected as it is sensitive, the executive has pushed back the deadline several times, to the great dismay of supporters of a change in legislation. After the citizens’ convention on the end of life, the majority in favor of active assistance in dying, Emmanuel Macron asked his ministers for a bill “before the end of summer” 2023.
“In particular, we had to deepen the strategy for supportive care, even more than we had imagined, which led to loosening the schedule,” declared the Minister Delegate in this interview posted online Friday evening.
A new strategy unveiled in January
In detail, the announcement of a new ten-year strategy on palliative care “will take place in January and certain of its elements which fall under the law must integrate the text”, specifies the minister.
“We must understand that the new French end-of-life model is a whole, which goes from strengthening palliative care to active assistance in dying for those who wish it, under certain eligibility conditions which have been set by the President of the Republic,” said Ms. Le Bodo, believing that “on such a complex subject, we must take the necessary time and weigh our words.”
Towards the creation of “support homes”
The aspect of palliative care is rather consensual, but the form of a future “active assistance in dying”, the most divisive measure, remains dependent on Emmanuel Macron’s decisions. In theory, three options exist: assisted suicide alone, assisted suicide with the exception of euthanasia (with a gesture from the medical profession), assisted suicide and euthanasia of choice. The first seems excluded, according to several observers.
On the reform of palliative care, the minister promises “a small revolution”. “Their scope must broaden to anticipate this care in advance, as soon as a serious illness is announced,” she declares. Among the new features proposed, “new support centers, the missing link between the hospital and the home, will make it possible to embody this revolution in care”.
“Certain aspects of the strategy can be implemented very quickly, without waiting for the law to be passed, others cannot,” further specifies Ms. Firmin Le Bodo. “The mother of battles is training professionals. »