The National Assembly is preparing to debate a text which engages the conscience of our nation. This project, split into two aspects, addresses a fundamental question between all: end of life.
The first part, which I greet, aims to strengthen access to palliative care. The second, much more perilous, intends to legalize what is modestly called “aid to die”, is assisted suicide and euthanasia. In reality, it is a historical change in our law, a major anthropological turning point. I fully measure the reasons that push many of our compatriots to see in death caused a form of advance. Faced with extreme suffering, loneliness, fear, the temptation to shorten life may seem human. Some see it as a final freedom, a last act of sovereignty over his own body. I understand this pain, I respect this despair, but I refuse to make a legal basis.
It is because I know this reality that I oppose it
I do not oppose this text by dogmatism. I know the reality of this France which is age, of these families exhausted by illness, of these caregivers who carry an immense burden on a daily basis. But it is precisely because I know this reality that I oppose it in conscience. Because a company is not only defined by what it allows, but first of all by what it protects. And I deeply believe that our collective duty is to protect life, especially when it becomes fragile.
Since 2005, the Leonetti law has been tracing a path of humanity: the one who refuses unreasonable obstinacy, without ever crossing the ultimate threshold which would make death a solution. This path is now compromised. No because it would have failed, but because the state failed. Currently, only 50 % of patients who need it access palliative care. Twenty departments still have no dedicated unit. This is not the law that must be changed, it is the reality that must be faced, with means that meet the ambition that we have given ourselves.
Protect the most vulnerable
And yet, rather than correcting this injustice, we are offered to get around it. Rather than healing, we are suggested to accelerate the end. This bill is not only an unsuitable response: it is an admission of renunciation. A company that no longer has the means to support life until its end does not grow by legalizing death as a default solution.
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To those who claim that safeguards will be set, I answer that the story of such a social project will be that of a dike that yields. Recent debates have shown the close-up to certain deputies: an “offense of obstacle to help” was adopted-with the favorable opinion of the government; the notion of “Vital prognosis initiated in the short or medium term” has been removed. Little by little, the exception becomes a standard. The law becomes incentive. And the look at the most vulnerable deteriorates imperceptibly.
Foreign experience must alert us. In the Netherlands, euthanasia has been legalized for extreme cases. It now concerns elderly people tired of living, demented or depressive patients, couples or relatives who ask to die together. In 2024, nearly 10,000 euthanasia were practiced there, or 5.4 % of deaths. Even those who were at the origin of this drift today denounce its consequences … Professor Theo Boer, former member of the Dutch control commissions, now confides his dismay: “I thought that a rigorous framework could prevent drifts. I’m not so sure. »»
The truth is simple: once the door is open, it becomes impossible to close it. And what we normalize today in the name of freedom, we will see it tomorrow turn against the most vulnerable.
It is not said enough: palliative care is not a medicine of abandonment, but a medicine of the link, of support, of dignity. Thanks to proven protocols, we know how to relieve the pain, soothe anxiety, accompany the last moments without suffering, without loneliness, without ever passively waiting for the end.
Let’s make palliative care a great national cause
What caregivers are demanding are not texts to kill, but means to take care: reinforced units, formed teams, recognition that lives up to their commitment.
Palliative care, as Professor Jean Bernard said, is “Add life to days when you can no longer add days to life”. The doctor is and must remain the one who protects.
This debate relates to intimate, what we have more human. It requires modesty, respect, the height of view. The Republic is not based on extreme cases: it is based on principles. And among these principles, there is this one: a human life, until its end, deserves to be surrounded, honored, sustained. Especially when it becomes fragile. Let us make palliative care a great national cause. Because the honor of a country is not measured by its ability to shorten life, but to the dignity with which it accompanies the end.
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