On Wednesday evening, members of the Social Affairs Commission approved four articles (10, 11, 12, 13), finishing their review of the part of the law that deals with “assisted dying.” Just like in previous meetings, most proposed changes were rejected.
One suggestion was made by Thibault Bazin, who wanted to ensure that if anyone had doubts during the process, it would be stopped immediately. Christophe Bentz raised a question about what would happen if a lethal dose didn’t work, and the patient showed doubt at that moment. The reporter, Stéphane Delautrette, responded that the technical details would be decided later by the Health Authority, so he couldn’t provide specific answers at this time. Bazin’s proposal was rejected.
Bazin also suggested that a national control commission should be able to stop a procedure if necessary, but Philippe Vigier disagreed. He thought that having such prior control was “technically impossible” and could lead to legal confusion. This idea was also rejected.
The discussions included the need for proper data collection. Philippe Juvin proposed that they should record patients’ doubts, thoughts, and statements during the entire process. The reporter was against this, fearing it would make the process too complicated and hard to manage. Juvin argued that not recording what the patient says means ignoring their feelings, but his amendment was rejected.
Some deputies were worried about how sensitive data would be stored safely. The reporter reminded them that the protections in the Data Protection Law and GDPR would apply. He proposed to clarify security standards through an amendment that was accepted. Another amendment by Elise Leboucher was also adopted, aiming to ensure that data related to recorded actions would have a specific coding system for better identification and tracking.
After the approval of Article 13, discussions continued, but they were long and tiring. Philippe Juvin wanted to limit how much time a doctor could spend on assisted dying cases and would revise his proposal. As it was almost midnight, the commission decided to pause discussions. The president, Frédéric Valletoux, scheduled another meeting for Friday morning at 9 AM, wishing everyone to rest well. They will begin by discussing the article on conscience clauses. Will one last day be enough to vote on the law?
This article has been translated and simplified by artificial intelligence from a French article “« Aide à mourir » : la Commission termine l’examen des articles dédiés à la procédure”
It may therefore contain errors. The French version is the reference version..