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France’s Macron pushes on with assisted-dying bill

President Emmanuel Macron has said that he will propose a bill legalising “aid in dying” for terminally ill people.

In an interview published on Monday, the French president said that the bill, which he plans to present to the National Assembly in May, would strictly apply to adults suffering from short to medium-term illnesses, such as final-stage cancer. The move comes on the back of polls suggesting public support.

The law, Macron told French newspaper Liberation, “traces a path which did not exist until now and which opens the possibility of requesting assistance in dying under certain strict conditions”.

Macron announced moves towards legislation on assisted suicide in the autumn. A lengthy consultation process was then initiated. A majority came out in favour.

The bill would allow adults suffering from an incurable illness and capable of forming their own views to be prescribed a lethal substance that patients will administer themselves or with the help of a third party.

The substance can be administered at the patient’s home, in care homes for the elderly or care centres. Medical experts will have 15 days to respond to the request for help to die, and an approval will be valid for three months, during which time the patient can retract, Macron said.

If medical professionals reject the request, the patient can consult another medical team or appeal, he added.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal wrote on X that the bill would be presented to the French Parliament from May 27. “Death can no longer be a taboo issue and subject to silence,” he added.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/11/macron-to-back-aid-in-dying-bill

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