End-of-life Law : relentless determination disconnected from reality, at the cost of solidarity

PRESS RELEASE

End of life law
Relentless determination disconnected from reality, at the cost of solidarity

In the context of a political instability unequalled since the beginning of the 5^th Republic, the end of life law is being revived by the Prime Minister - a sign of governmental determination which is as indecent as it is irresponsible.

Year after year, survey after survey, the French public have elected health as their top priority. Nevertheless, over the last year, the successive governments have persisted in responding to the requests for equal access to care by a text aimed at legalising assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The urgency demands on the contrary to finally embark upon the reconstruction of a faltering health system, by breaking away from the policies conducted up till now. In early September, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced his will for a breakaway, to provide every French person with access to care at within 30 minutes from their home. A legitimate ambition, inasmuch as "this question is a major and absolute concern for our citizens", according to his own words.

How can "assistance in dying" by assisted suicide and euthanasia claim to meet such a concern ?

The true risk, is that vulnerable people will choose death due to a lack of appropriate care and accompaniment. Palliative care, on the other hand, unfortunately remains underdeveloped, with a funding plan spread over ten years, which seems like an eternity for those who are in need today.

According to Tugdual Derville", spokesman for Alliance VITA and author of Docteur ai-je le droit de vivre encore un peu - L'euthanasie et le suicide assisté démasqués (Doctor, have I a right to live a little longer - Euthanasia and assisted suicide unmasked),

"It is high time to put an end to the hypocrisy of the "as well as" which still maintains the confusion between care and euthanasia. To provide care is to help people to live until the end of their life, providing relief and appeasement, without therapeutic obstinacy nor euthanasia. It is also the only way to preserve the universality of suicide prevention, which is an obligation for solidarity. That is the requirement calling for political consensus."

Alliance VITA is calling for resistance to the roller coaster of euthanasia and for the defence of solidarity by writing to Senators. The French public need care, not euthanasia.