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The following article is from the SAVES newsletter, The
VE Bulletin, Vol 16 No 1, Mar 99
France Discovers Euthanasia
Information from around the world reaches us in a variety of ways. The
following is taken from a newspaper article under the above title appearing
in the Rotterdam Daily, in December 98, and sent here from Holland by a
member's relative.
Arbitration committee acquits doctor
Paris - In France a taboo has fallen. The reason is the refusal of an arbitration
committee to punish a doctor who practised euthanasia on a 92 year old
patient.
Secretary of State Kouchner (Health) applauds the "humane decision".
Le Figaro, a publication of the French right, argues against this, saying
that those staying in nursing homes will now have to wonder: "When will
they decide to kill me?" In this instance it concerns a doctor in a hospital
in Aveyron in the south of France, who in January administered a drug to
a patient in order to hasten death. He did so in consultation with the
medical staff but without consulting the woman's relatives. The regional
arbitration committee decided not to punish the doctor and in doing so
ignored the national professional body's point of view. According to French
law active as well as passive euthanasia are considered punishable.
The subject has been high on the political agenda following the confession
last summer of a nurse in a hospital in Mantes-la-Jolie, not far from Paris,
to having relieved 30 terminal patients from their suffering. Secretary
of State Kouchner did not comment in detail on this case but said that
"France is extremeley late compared to its European partners in discussing
euthanasia". In France one often points with a mixture of horror and surprise
to the way the Netherlands handles this issue. Kouchner did warn against
a "hasty debate".
The Roman Catholic church and the parties on the right reject euthanasia.
Bishop Oliver de Berranger says that "God gives life and only He has the
right to take it away". Senator Caillavet, president of a society for "the
right to die with dignity" demands legislation. "Rather than this illegality,
I want a law which gives anyone the right to die with dignity".
Dr Benayoun, president of the committee that dealt with the case in
Aveyron says that it is a social problem which requires discussion. "We
ought to stop being hypocritical about a problem which arises daily in
hospitals and nursing homes". Politician Schwartzenberg says that a political
debate is urgently needed. Pointing to figures from 1991 he states that
36% of doctors in France on average once or twice - and in some cases up
to five times - per year administer drugs to patients which cause a coma
following which the patients die.
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