Press release
Debate on assisted dying: distinguishing between euthanasia and assisted suicide1
May 6, 2025
At a time when the French National Assembly is due to examine the proposed bill No. 1100 ‘on the end of life’, the French Academy of Medicine notes that euthanasia is included in this text, without any clear distinction from assisted suicide, as one of the two forms of ‘aid in dying’. On the eve of the debate opening before the French National Assembly, the French Academy of Medicine wishes to point out that in its position statement “Promoting a dignified and peaceful end to life: responding to inhuman suffering and protecting the most vulnerable people”, voted at its plenary session on June 27, 2023 [1], it stressed that ‘with regard to caregivers, patients and families, assisted suicide and euthanasia do not have the same scope and must be distinguished from each other’.
Indeed, it has been observed that authorizing the use and prescription of lethal substances for assisted suicide does not lead the person to use them in a third of cases, thus showing that assisted suicide fully respects the hesitation and uncertainty surrounding the ultimate choice of many patients until the end.
In its opinion, the Academy recommended “to rule out euthanasia in light of its strong moral and symbolic significance, but also given that professionals and members of end-of-life support associations are opposed to it and fear this practice’.
Concerning the possibility of assisted suicide, it ‘required, in particular that decisions on assisted suicide be supervised by a prior reactive and repeated, rigorous, collegial, multi-professional assessment, following the request of a person capable of discernment and benefiting from palliative care’ and called for ‘exclusion from the indication for assisted suicide of psychological disorders, depressive states, advanced age with proven cognitive disorders, and illnesses and disabilities with impaired judgement.
1 This press release has been validated by the Academy’s Board of Directors.
References:
[1] Bringer J, Bergoignan-Esper C, Eléfant E. Avis 23-17. Favoriser une fin de vie digne et apaisée : répondre à la souffrance inhumaine et protéger les personnes les plus vulnérables. («Promoting a dignified and peaceful end of life: responding to inhuman suffering and protecting the most vulnerable.”) Bull Acad Natle Med 2023 ;207 :1025-1033.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.banm.2023.07.014
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Bull Acad Natl Med 2025;209:914-5. Doi : 10.1016/j.banm.2025.06.005
