2024-03-15 05:30:01
The President of the Republic presented this Monday, March 11, the broad outlines of the bill on the end of life, which will be unveiled next week in the Council of Ministers and debated in the National Assembly from May 27. Decryption with Pierre Juston, administrator of the association for the right to die with dignity.
Before the presentation of the bill on the end of life in the Council of Ministers, decryption with Pierre Juston, administrator of the ADMD, the association for the right to die with dignity, which has been calling for a law for a long time.
He did not say the words “assisted suicide” or “euthanasia”. The President of the Republic preferred to mention “assisted dying” in his presentation of the broad outlines of the end-of-life bill this Monday, March 11, 2024, in the columns of The cross and of Release.
The project must be unveiled this Wednesday March 20 in the Council of Ministers before being debated in the National Assembly from May 27. For Pierre Juston, administrator of ADMD, the association for the right to die with dignity, it was time: “Already I am satisfied because we have been waiting for a law for 43 years.”
After several citizen conventions, multiple opinions from specialized experts, the law should have seen the light of day before the end of 2023: “It’s a shame because some left before benefiting from it,” testifies Pierre Juston. “At least the President has arbitrated on the notion of assisted dying, it’s the first time and frankly we have debated it enough.”
Without prejudging the final text, for Pierre Juston, certain points remain problematic such as the final short and medium term prognosis: “This means that certain patients will not be affected by the law, such as people with Charcot disease”, he says. “Unless‘a deadline is defined. But which one? And if there is none, the interpretation will necessarily be different depending on the doctors. And that raises the question of inequality of care.”
Another complaint: the absence of advance directives: “Without these directives, patients who know that they will no longer be able to give their opinion risk being deprived of it”confirms Pierre Juston. “Clearly under current conditions, high-profile people like Chantal Sebire or Vincent Lambert would not be eligible for active assistance in dying.”
“I can understand that certain words like “assisted suicide” or “euthanasia” are scary”he adds. “But when you have an incurable illness and you suffer, you have to ask yourself the question to demonize death and whatever the person’s choice, it will be the right one.”
“We are not defending a way of dying, we are defending a freedom”, concludes Pierre Juston. The association for the right to die with dignity has 80,000 members in France. She has been supporting patients throughout the country for 43 years now.
1710480976
#life #defending #freedom #association #die #dignity #deciphers #bill
