The bill “on the French end-of-life model”, Emmanuel Macron’s promise, will be “presented in February”, after a ten-year plan on palliative care, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Minister for Professions, announced on Friday. health.
On this text, as anticipated 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 supportive care strategy, even more than we had imagined, which led to loosening the schedule,” declared the delegate minister in an interview with Le Figaro posted online Friday evening.
A “small revolution” in palliative care
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. “The bill on the French end-of-life model will therefore be presented in February,” she adds.
“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,” says Le Bodo. “On such a complex subject, you have to take the necessary time and weigh your words.”
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.
“Support houses”
Among the new features proposed in the report led by Professor Franck Chauvin – around a 2024-2034 plan on palliative care and submitted to the government this week – “new support homes, the missing link between the hospital and the home , will make it possible to embody this revolution in care,” explains Firmin Le Bodo.
“Some aspects of the strategy can be implemented very quickly, without waiting for the law to be passed, others not,” she further indicates.
“The mother of battles is training professionals,” says the minister, who suggests that “this aspect could happen quickly.” Conversely, other aspects “will take longer to implement, such as the creation of a university specialty” in supportive care, she specifies.
The presidential majority divided
The palliative care aspect 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.
Politically, the left mainly defends assisted suicide and euthanasia, but is not unanimous; the right and the extreme right are hostile to it; the presidential majority is divided.
The executive must also deal with the clear opposition of a majority of caregivers and religions. In September, a minister said he felt “the president was a little reserved” on active assistance in dying. And “when he has reservations about something, he waits as late as possible to decide.”
“His conviction is made, but he considers the moment opportune,” confided another minister in recent days, stressing that “it is a subject which will divide” and risks fueling “an extremely violent campaign” by opponents.