Doctors in France will have the right to put terminally-ill patients into a deep sleep until they die, under plans unveiled on Friday that reignited a national debate on euthanasia.
Apart from Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, few countries in the world explicitly permit euthanasia or assisted suicide.
In France, a 2005 law permits “passive euthanasia”, where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment that is necessary to maintain life.
The proposals by two MPs – one from the ruling Socialists, the other from the opposition UMP – go a step further, as they allow doctors to couple passive euthanasia with “deep and continuous sedation” for terminally-ill patients who are conscious and whose treatment is not working or for those who decide to stop taking medication.
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