Policy. Assisted dying: the Constitutional Council approves the law, Emmanuel Macron welcomes the decision

Two reservations of interpretation from the “Wise Men”, recipients of five referrals on this text, however concern the conscience clause, which allows a caregiver to refuse to participate in the lethal act. The Council judges that a private establishment can refuse to provide assistance in dying “when such a procedure is manifestly contrary to the statutory missions or the project of the establishment” and provided that it is not the only one able to respond to “local needs”. At the individual level, the institution chaired by Richard Ferrand believes that the conscience clause will not only apply to caregivers called upon to participate in the act, but also to pharmacists who refuse to prepare the lethal product.

Third reservation, the Council warns, for patients under guardianship or curatorship who request assistance in dying, that the doctor responsible for giving or not giving the green light must “take into account” the observations of the guardian. The law requires requesting the latter, but does not explicitly say to what extent to take it into account. By limiting itself to these three reservations, the Council is not asking for the rewriting of the text, adopted in mid-July by parliamentarians after a course of several years of public debates, including a Citizens’ Convention, then legislative.

An essential step taken

It is therefore an essential step which has been taken towards the effective implementation of this text, a major societal reform and marker of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term. Unusually, the head of government, Sébastien Lecornu, himself contacted the Constitutional Council, questioning it in particular on the provisions linked to the conscience clause as well as adults under guardianship and curatorship. Four other referrals had been filed.

Apart from its three reservations, the Council rejected all of the challenges. These concerned in particular the definition considered too imprecise of assistance in dying, the conditions of access, accused of being too broad or imprecise, and the reflection period for confirming one’s request for assistance in dying, considered too short by some.

Under the law, a patient can be helped to die if they are of legal age, French or a long-term resident, in unbearable physical pain, and able to formulate, until the last moment, their choice in an informed manner. Finally, he must be suffering from a “serious and incurable” illness, in a terminal or “advanced” phase. Once the medical green light has been given, the patient will have to wait a minimum of two days before the procedure is carried out. He will still have to confirm his choice the same day. The patient must administer the lethal product himself, unless he is physically incapable, in which case a caregiver can perform the act.