physician assisted dying : A French Perspective - a new revolution?

TL;DR

This paper discusses the ethical and clinical challenges of legalizing euthanasia and assisted suicide for psychiatric reasons in France.

Contribution

The paper highlights key unresolved questions regarding the implementation of euthanasia laws in France.

Findings

There is a need to ensure the irreversibility of psychological suffering in EAS cases.

Decision-making capacity of patients requesting EAS must be carefully assessed.

Therapeutic futility should be clearly defined to protect vulnerable patients.

Abstract

The debates on euthanasia and assisted suicide (EAS) are topical in Europe. The extension of EAS for psychiatric reasons, already legalized in some countries, raises ethical and clinical issues, given the proximity between suicidal patients and patients who request or have accessed EAS. How can ESA be reconciled with the promotion of suicide prevention, which kills nearly 10,000 people per year in France? We will raise here several key questions that deserve a clear answer before considering going further in the social debates: how to ensure the irreversibility of psychological suffering? how to ensure that patients requesting EAS have full decision-making capacity? how to judge therapeutic futility? It seems crucial to protect the most vulnerable patients by ensuring that psychiatry benefits from scientific progress and can offer new solutions to suffering patients.

Thes issues will be discussed viewing the proposed law on EAS in France, which is supposed to come in February 2024…

None Declared