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News: France Passes “End of Life” Law that Stops Short of Euthanasia |
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elizabeth writes "The French Parliament passed a law on Wednesday giving terminally ill patients the right to end their life by refusing treatment. However it stopped short of legalizing “mercy killing” - a controversial practice known as euthanasia.
The law would allow doctors to stop medical assistance when it “seems useless, disproportionate or has no effect other than maintaining life artificially,” according to Reuters.
To patients that have already chosen to stop treatment, it would allow the administration of painkillers that could hasten death, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
The law does not allow the doctor to actively end the life of a patient.
In France, the case of Vincent Humber, brought euthanasia into the headlines in recent times. Humber was a mute, blind quadriplegic that was killed at his own request by his doctor in 2003, according to the New York Times. Now, the doctor is being investigated and may face a murder charge.
Humber’s case drew widespread attention when he wrote a book called “I Ask the Right to Die.” The book was a call for the legalization of euthanasia in France. He wrote the book by counting out letters of the alphabet with his thumb and head, according to the Times.
Critics like Health Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy and the Roman Catholic Church had fought the initial version of the law, which would have legalized euthanasia. The version that passed on Wednesday stopped short of it.
According to the Times, Monsignor Jean-Pierre Ricard, the president of the French Bishops Conference issued a statement calling for the medical establishment to draft an additional code of best practices for end-of-life issues to avoid “unethical interpretations of the law.”"
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Posted on Thursday, April 14 @ 11:50:12 MDT by ArCh_AnGeL
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