LONDON - France may become the latest European country to grant a right to die to the terminally ill, after a government-commissioned report on Tuesday opened the door to legalizing assisted suicide.
The government of President François Hollande said it would act on the recommendations of the report by bringing a bill before parliament in June next year on end-of-life care.
Assisted suicide is a topic on which public opinion appears to be ahead of legislators and mainstream medical opinion. A recent survey indicated that though national legislation differs widely, as many as two out of three Europea ns support a right to die.
The Swiss Medical Lawyers Association, which commissioned the poll from the Swiss pollster Isopublic, said, “In practically all European countries, many signs indicate that the prevailing legal system no longer reflects the will of large parts of the population on this issue.â€
An international survey of 62,000 people, conducted by researchers at Bangor University in Wales, produced similar findings. It concluded that support for assisted suicide was around the same among people with terminal illnesses as for the general public.
Other evidence, however, suggests that the medical profession generally opposes moves in the direction of euthanasia. At the annual conference of the British Medical Association this year, members once again stated their opposition.
The French initiative follows an election campaign pledge by Mr. Hollande that he would make medical assistance available to help the terminally sick end their lives with dignity. He avoided using the word euthanasia.
Under existing legislation, French doctors are only allowed to administer painkilling drugs that might have the secondary effect of cutting short patients' lives.
Soon after coming to office this year, Mr. Hollande commissioned a report from a panel chaired by Didier Sicard, the former head of France's national ethics committee. That report, issued on Tuesday, after the panel consulted public meetings across the country, said that assisted suicide might be appropriate in cases of incurable illness.
The debate in Europe has been driven by high-profile cases in which terminally ill patients have been denied the right to die.
In Britain, Tony Nicklinson, a 58-year-old sufferer of s o-called locked-in syndrome died of natural causes in August shortly after losing the latest legal bid in a long-running campaign for help to end his life. Mr. Nicklinson was too incapacitated to administer a fatal dose unaided.
In France, Marie Humbert, a mother who ended the life of her quadriplegic son in 2003 with a lethal injection, said she was deeply disappointed that the Sicard report did not go further and recommend France pass a law immediately allowing euthanasia. She told Europe 1 radio that what was needed was a right for doctors to help those who wanted to die but were incapable of taking their own lives.
Assisted dying is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg, and in three U.S. states - Oregon, Washington and Montana.
Any change in French law would likely reflect practice in jurisdictions such as Oregon where the terminally-ill are allowed to end their lives through the voluntary self-administration of lethal medication, expressly prescribed by a doctor.
Legislation varies across Europe, from the Netherlands, where patients may request active euthanasia carried out by a doctor, to Ireland, where assisted suicide is illegal and punishable by 14 years imprisonment.
Some terminally ill people from elsewhere in Europe have opted to end their lives in Switze rland, taking advantage of a law that has allowed assisted suicide since 1941.
Does the law elsewhere need changing? Tell us what you think. Should the terminally ill have an absolute right to choose to die, or should legislation remain in place to prevent possible abuses?
