NWouldn’t it be time to lay down our arms? Wouldn’t it be time, faced with the patient’s request, to set aside our convictions, whether philosophical or religious, because they are only convictions? Wouldn’t it be time, then, to stop lying to each other?
Belgium passed a law authorizing medical assistance in dying twenty years ago: the anthropological shift did not occur, and since then we have not stopped thinking of all these people on their bed of suffering, in France, and who had no choice.
No, we are not bound by an oath from another century but by an oath that we made to ourselves from the start of our commitment as caregivers: to listen, to understand and to help.
No, we do not recognize ourselves in the positions taken by the Order of Physicians concerning the evolution of the law on end-of-life care.
Yes, there are physical pains refractory to all treatments, however elaborate they may be.
Yes, there are psychological and moral pains that are unbearable and refractory to any therapeutic arsenal; denying it is unethical.
Yes, it is medically impossible to define with certainty the end of a life, except to consider the beginning of the agony. But isn’t it too late?
A human approach
So, let us know how to listen, share, understand and recognize. It is this, our role as doctors and caregivers in this unique colloquium that will lead us to a shared decision.
So, in this specific context, let us know how to reverse our medical relationship, give depth to it by granting the patient our consent. The term of a life will never be a medical or societal definition, but a human approach, necessarily subjective, of those who, suffering from a serious and incurable disease, know that their life is accomplished.
In this sense, we say loud and clear that medical aid in dying is care when we are faced with a serious and incurable illness, causing intolerable physical or psychological pain, and when the singular colloquy that unites us comes to conclusion that there is no better service to be rendered to the patient, conscious and capable, than to respond favorably to his request to benefit from active assistance in dying in order to safeguard his own dignity.
With us, 82% of French men and women [interrogés dans le cadre d’un sondage de l’IFOP en octobre 2022] believe medical assistance in dying is end-of-life care.
In this sense, we say loud and clear that the active assistance in dying which would be practiced by a doctor does not alter the confidence that his patient has in him. In fact, 77% of French people [interrogés par l’IFOP] affirm their confidence in a doctor who would practice medical aids in dying.
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