French parliament passes 'deep sleep' bill for end of life

[humble3d]

French parliament passes 'deep sleep' bill for end of life

PARIS (Reuters) - France's lower house of parliament passed a bill on Tuesday allowing patients near the end of their lives to stop medical treatment and request deep sedation until they die, a move that critics say is effectively a form of euthanasia.

The draft law, which polls show is backed by most French, passed in the lower house of parliament with 436 members voting in favor and 34 voting against. It is expected to get the final approval from the upper house in May or June.

It builds on Socialist President Francois Hollande's legacy as a social reformer after he pushed through a controversial law legalizing gay marriage in 2012, and widened education on gender equality in primary schools.

The government is defying critics that range from religious leaders to medical professors and pro-life advocates who argue the new bill ushers in a form of euthanasia in disguise.

Allowing doctors to put patients within "hours or days" of their death under deep sedation until they die, as the law foresees, differs only from euthanasia in that precise time of death cannot be determined, they argue.

A Socialist senator warned the bill could alienate socially conservative voters, including Muslims, weeks ahead of local elections on March 22 and 29 in which the ruling party is seen losing ground to the far-right National Front.

"With this bill, the government is taking the risk of alienating yet more Muslims from the Socialist party," said Bariza Khiari ahead of the vote.

"There is a risk of massive abstention which could really hurt us in the next local election."

Study: Euthanasia cases more than double in northern Belgium

BRUSSELS (AP) — Almost one in 20 people in northern Belgium died using euthanasia in 2013, more than doubling the numbers in six years, a study released Tuesday showed.

The universities of Ghent and Brussels found that since euthanasia was legalized in 2002, the acceptance of ending a life at the patient's request has greatly increased. While a 2007 survey showed only 1.9 percent of deaths from euthanasia in the region, the figure was 4.6 percent in 2013.

"Euthanasia has been increasingly accepted by the patients as a valid option at the end of their life. They are increasingly asking for it," said Ghent University ethics professor Freddy Mortier. "Physicians themselves are more inclined to comply with the wishes of the patients."

Euthanasia is legal only in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and its use rate in northern Belgium now tops the Dutch 2010 total of 2.8 percent.

Those requesting euthanasia are mainly highly educated and between 65 and 79, the study found. Terminally-ill cancer patients form the biggest group, although cases in all categories are rising.

"In the vast majority of cases, euthanasia is about people who will die within 2 weeks," said Mortier. "The standard case remains an intolerably suffering cancer patient."

Requests citing psychological disorders remain an exception.

The study looking at the 6 million people in the Dutch-speaking Flanders region was published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Belgium last year approved extending the euthanasia law to minors under 18, but they were not part of the 2013 survey.

Mortier was not happy, however, that the 'hastening of death without explicit request from patients,' which can happen when a patient slumbers into unconsciousness or has lost the capacity for rational judgment, stood at 1.7 percent of cases in 2013. In the Netherlands, that figure was 0.2 percent.

"Physicians should talk more to their patients and prevent them from coming into situations in which the only option that remains open to the physician is helping them to die without request of the patient himself," he said.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/french-parliament-passes-deep-sleep-bill-end-life-160206962--business.html

http://www.globoble.com/news/french-parliament-passes-deep-sleep-bill-for-end-of-life