00:00 Well, here in France, a new euthanasia bill is being sent to Parliament.
00:05 President Emmanuel Macron announced the bill that would let adults facing end-of-life illnesses
00:09 have help in dying.
00:11 The move comes after a report last year showed that most French people support legalizing
00:15 end-of-life options.
00:16 Well, our Solange Mougin is in the studio with me now to talk a bit more about all of
00:21 this.
00:22 And Solange, the French president was very careful with his terminology when he made
00:25 this announcement because, of course, it is a very delicate subject.
00:28 It is.
00:29 He announced this with an exclusive interview, actually, to two papers, Libération and the
00:34 Christian paper La Croix.
00:38 Libération left-leaning and that choice sort of underlines the political, the societal,
00:47 the individual and the religious spectrum when it comes to these end-of-life policies.
00:54 Now, in his interview with them, Macron said his bill is a means to set guidelines for
00:59 the ill to, quote, "ask for help to die" or "l'aide à mourir."
01:05 It is not, the president said, a euthanasia or an assisted suicide bill.
01:12 For Macron, those terms actually do not describe the bill's mission of creating a way for
01:16 people to try and get help to die in France under very, very specific criteria.
01:23 So given that specificity, what are the criteria that are laid out in the bill?
01:26 Well, first, to get help dying and to make a request, the patient has to meet four criteria.
01:33 One such help can only be possible for adults.
01:37 So children with terminal illnesses would not, for example, be eligible.
01:41 The second condition is that the person has to be fully sound of mind, which thus excludes
01:48 neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer patients, and also it excludes the psychologically
01:54 troubled.
01:55 Now, the third criteria is the person has to have an incurable illness or a life-threatening
02:00 condition.
02:01 And finally, the fourth criteria is the person has to be suffering either physically or psychologically
02:07 or both.
02:08 All of these, if all of these criteria are met, the bill says that the person can ask
02:14 for a medical team to review their request to die.
02:17 And then how exactly would it work?
02:19 Well, if the commission agrees, then the ill person would be given a prescription for a
02:25 lethal drug.
02:27 He or she can either administer that dose themselves or request help from another person
02:33 of his or her choice, be it a medical professional or someone else.
02:38 In addition to boosting palliative care and also patients' rights, this bill also, it
02:44 says that if the initial request is rejected, then the ill person can actually appeal the
02:50 decision.
02:51 And this in itself is actually creating quite a bit of debate already, and it is potentially
02:57 going to create further debate.
02:59 It's potentially the beginning of a lot of debate on what is a very, very touchy subject.
03:05 It's so divisive, actually, that many of Macron's critics say that he had been avoiding putting
03:10 this forth for years.
03:13 The fact that he has now is historic for many people
03:15 who are pushing for the bill.
Comments