“The objectives of the law are acceptable, but ambiguities remain that need to be clarified”: that’s the reaction of the French bishops to the new law relating to the rights of invalids and to the end of life. Called by many the “right to die” law, it was finally voted by the French Senate on 12 April, after having been approved by the National Assembly on 30 November 2004. In a communiqué dated 13 April, the president of the French episcopate, Archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux, comments that “much will depend on the way in which the law will be interpreted and applied by doctors. It is therefore to be hoped that the competent authorities will exercise proper vigilance to ensure that norms of good medical practice will be applied in such delicate contexts”. As regards the question whether treatment should be maintained, if not explicitly rejected by the patient, Archbishop Ricard recalls a previous statement of 20 September 2004 in which it was judged “unreasonable and inhumane to prolong the agony. If death is unavoidable and imminent, total priority must be given to alleviating the pain and accompanying the patient”. Otherwise cessation of treatment is only acceptable on condition that the necessary care is provided: “It may happen that the patient may refuse all treatment with the exception of placebos. At this point the doctors can do nothing but submit to the patient’s will after having used every means of dialogue. For all other cases it is right to maintain treatment and in particular seek the most suitable manner of feeding the patient and providing him/her with nutritional elements”. The principle of the ‘right to die’ is introduced into French legislation with this vote. The new law prescribes that medical treatment should not be “continued with unreasonable obstinacy”. According to the law, a person in a terminal phase may decide to limit or interrupt any therapy and authorise pain-killing drugs even if these may accelerate death.
