President Emmanuel Macron has pledged support for the first time the end-of-life legislation and wanted his government to put forward a draft bill to parliament in May.
France’s neighbours Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands have adopted laws that allow medically assisted dying in some cases. But France had resisted that step, in part under pressure from the catholic church.
Macon in an interview described the bill as help to die which opens the possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions which would be verified by a medical team to ensure all the criteria for the decision are correct.
The claeys-leonetti law on the end of life, adopted in 2016, authorizes deep sedation but only for people whose prognosis is threatened in the short-term.
