France Lets Terminally Ill Refuse Care
Apr 14th 2005, 1:59 am
#1
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France Lets Terminally Ill Refuse Care
April 14, 2005
France Lets Terminally Ill Refuse Care, but Still Bans Euthanasia
By CRAIG S. SMITH
ARIS, April 13 - In a quiet coda to the dramatic mercy killing of a
severely disabled man in 2003, French legislators approved a law on
Wednesday that would permit terminally ill patients to refuse treatment in
favor of death, but stopped short of legalizing euthanasia.
The law allows families to end life support for patients in a coma, as in
the Terri Schiavo case, and permits doctors to prescribe pain medication for
terminally ill patients even if those drugs may hasten death. However, it
does not allow doctors to act to end a patient's life if there is no
reasonable hope of recovery, even at the patient's request.
"We had to have a law that respects not only the wishes of the patients but
protects the doctor who follows the patient to the end of life," said Michel
Ducloux, president of France's National Council of Doctors, adding that the
medical establishment already follows a code of ethics that addresses the
same issues. "This was an enormous problem, especially for anesthesiologists
whose efforts could otherwise be considered premeditated murder."
The law, passed after an overnight session of the French Senate, formalizes
what has been the practice in French hospitals but has rarely risen to the
level of public debate that such cases have caused in the United States. One
exception was the death of Vincent Humbert, a mute and blind quadriplegic
who was killed at his request in September 2003. His doctor is under an
investigation that could lead to a murder charge.
Mr. Humbert's death, which drew international attention, occurred on the day
that bookstores began selling his book, "I Ask the Right to Die," an
emotional plea for euthanasia to be legalized in France, which he wrote by
counting out letters of the alphabet with his thumb and head.
Euthanasia is legal in some cases in the Netherlands and Belgium and is
fully legal in Switzerland, where private associations help terminally ill
patients kill themselves.
An outpouring of sympathy for Mr. Humbert and his mother, who is accused of
trying unsuccessfully to help him die, led to a parliamentary panel formed
at the behest of two French legislators, one who once refused his dying
father's plea for help in killing himself, the other whose father is in a
quasi-vegetative state.
But that sympathy did not sway staunch critics of euthanasia, including
Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and the Roman Catholic Church. The
panel's recommendations led to the watered-down statute, which was passed by
Parliament's lower house in November.
The Senate debate centered on a last effort to amend the law to permit
doctors to aid patients in hopeless cases with lethal injections. When
that effort was defeated by the center-right Union for a Popular Movement,
which holds a majority in Parliament, Socialist and Communist senators
walked out. Doctors say that in thousands of cases each year, life support
systems are unplugged from terminally ill patients in France but that, until
now, it was done without a legal framework.
Under the new law, doctors detaching life support systems are only permitted
to do so after obtaining a signed request from the patient or after
consulting other doctors and the patient's family. The law also allows
doctors to administer drugs to ease suffering even if they shorten life, but
requires them to first notify the patient or the patient's family and make a
note of the procedure in the patient's medical file.
Monsignor Jean-Pierre Ricard, president of the French Bishops Conference,
issued a statement calling for medical practitioners to establish an
additional code of best practices for end-of-life issues to avoid unethical
interpretations of the law.
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France Lets Terminally Ill Refuse Care, but Still Bans Euthanasia
By CRAIG S. SMITH
ARIS, April 13 - In a quiet coda to the dramatic mercy killing of a
severely disabled man in 2003, French legislators approved a law on
Wednesday that would permit terminally ill patients to refuse treatment in
favor of death, but stopped short of legalizing euthanasia.
The law allows families to end life support for patients in a coma, as in
the Terri Schiavo case, and permits doctors to prescribe pain medication for
terminally ill patients even if those drugs may hasten death. However, it
does not allow doctors to act to end a patient's life if there is no
reasonable hope of recovery, even at the patient's request.
"We had to have a law that respects not only the wishes of the patients but
protects the doctor who follows the patient to the end of life," said Michel
Ducloux, president of France's National Council of Doctors, adding that the
medical establishment already follows a code of ethics that addresses the
same issues. "This was an enormous problem, especially for anesthesiologists
whose efforts could otherwise be considered premeditated murder."
The law, passed after an overnight session of the French Senate, formalizes
what has been the practice in French hospitals but has rarely risen to the
level of public debate that such cases have caused in the United States. One
exception was the death of Vincent Humbert, a mute and blind quadriplegic
who was killed at his request in September 2003. His doctor is under an
investigation that could lead to a murder charge.
Mr. Humbert's death, which drew international attention, occurred on the day
that bookstores began selling his book, "I Ask the Right to Die," an
emotional plea for euthanasia to be legalized in France, which he wrote by
counting out letters of the alphabet with his thumb and head.
Euthanasia is legal in some cases in the Netherlands and Belgium and is
fully legal in Switzerland, where private associations help terminally ill
patients kill themselves.
An outpouring of sympathy for Mr. Humbert and his mother, who is accused of
trying unsuccessfully to help him die, led to a parliamentary panel formed
at the behest of two French legislators, one who once refused his dying
father's plea for help in killing himself, the other whose father is in a
quasi-vegetative state.
But that sympathy did not sway staunch critics of euthanasia, including
Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and the Roman Catholic Church. The
panel's recommendations led to the watered-down statute, which was passed by
Parliament's lower house in November.
The Senate debate centered on a last effort to amend the law to permit
doctors to aid patients in hopeless cases with lethal injections. When
that effort was defeated by the center-right Union for a Popular Movement,
which holds a majority in Parliament, Socialist and Communist senators
walked out. Doctors say that in thousands of cases each year, life support
systems are unplugged from terminally ill patients in France but that, until
now, it was done without a legal framework.
Under the new law, doctors detaching life support systems are only permitted
to do so after obtaining a signed request from the patient or after
consulting other doctors and the patient's family. The law also allows
doctors to administer drugs to ease suffering even if they shorten life, but
requires them to first notify the patient or the patient's family and make a
note of the procedure in the patient's medical file.
Monsignor Jean-Pierre Ricard, president of the French Bishops Conference,
issued a statement calling for medical practitioners to establish an
additional code of best practices for end-of-life issues to avoid unethical
interpretations of the law.
Copyright 2005 *The New York Times Company |Home |Privacy Policy |Search
|Corrections |RSS |Help |Back to Top
Apr 14th 2005, 9:23 am
#2
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Posts: n/a
Re: France Lets Terminally Ill Refuse Care
A difficult and emotive subject. Five years ago I wanted to die, the
chemotherapy that was administered to combat my cancer was assaulting
my body was so awfully, the feeling of being so ill that is beyond
words and that can only be understood if you have experienced it. I
wanted to die, I didn't care if my 7 year old son wanted me to stay
alive, my sister, the rest of my family - don't be so selfish its me
that is suffering. Five years later here I am replying to this group.
I still have mixed feelings but I do know that as long as you have
your senses I think everyone has the right to a dignified, pain-free
end. If it is hopeless it is cruel to prolongs someone's life for a
few days, weeks or even months whilst you are in agony and other
healthy people debate the subtle nuances of legality and morality.
chemotherapy that was administered to combat my cancer was assaulting
my body was so awfully, the feeling of being so ill that is beyond
words and that can only be understood if you have experienced it. I
wanted to die, I didn't care if my 7 year old son wanted me to stay
alive, my sister, the rest of my family - don't be so selfish its me
that is suffering. Five years later here I am replying to this group.
I still have mixed feelings but I do know that as long as you have
your senses I think everyone has the right to a dignified, pain-free
end. If it is hopeless it is cruel to prolongs someone's life for a
few days, weeks or even months whilst you are in agony and other
healthy people debate the subtle nuances of legality and morality.
