French Favor Doctor-Assisted Suicide

Many adults in France believe persons should be allowed to die under specific circumstances, according to a poll by TNS-Sofres for ADMD. 86 per cent of respondents favor amending existing laws to allow patients in an advanced or final stage of an incurable disease to obtain medical assistance to die.

In the case of a person who is placed in a situation of dependence which he or she considers incompatible with his or her dignity, 77 per cent of respondents support doctor-assisted euthanasia.

In March 2000, France’s National Ethics Committee said euthanasia may be permitted "if there is no other solution, if palliative care and pain-killers are ineffective, if all treatment or therapy has failed, (and) if there is unanimous agreement that the situation has become intolerable." In January 2003, French nurse Christine Malevre was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the murder of six patients at the Francois-Quesnay hospital. Malevre claims to have acted out of compassion.

In November 2004, France’s National Assembly endorsed legislation which legalized "passive euthanasia." This concept allows doctors to withdraw life-sustaining medication from patients, but not to, for instance, administer poisons.

The Netherlands, Belgium and Australia allow for some form of euthanasia. In the United States, the state of Oregon legalized assisted suicide in 1994.

The law currently makes it possible for a sick person to refuse any treatment, including food and hydration, and to be consequently allowed to die. On the other hand, it does not allow a sick person to be helped to die.


This is so sad that a country which has been predominantly Catholic for centuries would favor and uphold such a strong pro-death position. "Passive euthansia" is a gentle -sounding, but deceptive term for suicide. Why is it that a person's dignity or pride always comes first before his/her love for God and obedience to His will? Suffering is never easy, but it is what God commands us to do.

Pope John Paul II spoke these words in The Address to the Sick and Religious at the Basilica of the Monastery of Brevnos in Prague, April 26, 1997, in Dolentium Hominum:"Through pain you are being configured to that 'Servant of the Lord' who, in the words of Isaiah, 'was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities' (Is 53, 4; cf. Mt 8, 12; Col 1, 24). You are a hidden force contributing powerfully to the life of the Church: by your sufferings you have a share in the redemption of the world."

Speaking to a group of sick people at a hospital in Krakow in June 9, 1997, he stated, "To you, dear friends who are sick and who are taking part in this meeting, and to those who cannot be present with us here, I extend a cordial greeting. Every day I try to be close to your sufferings. I can say this because I am familiar with the experience of a hospital bed. Precisely because of this, with greater insistence in my daily prayer I beseech God for you, asking him to give you strength and health....From a human point of view the situation of a sick person is difficult, painful and sometimes even humiliating. But is precisely because of this that you are in a special way close to Christ, and in a certain sense share physically in his sacrifice. Try to remember this...It is thanks to you, thanks to your communion with the Crucified One, that the Church possesses inestimable wealth in her spiritual treasury. Thanks to you, others can draw from this treasury. Nothing enriches others like the free gift of suffering. Therefore always remember, especially when you feel abandoned, that the Church, the world, our homeland need you so much. Remember also that the Pope needs you". (John Paul II, at the blessing of a new heart surgery clinic of "John Paul II" Hospital in Krakow, June 9, 1997).

There is a great need for prayer thoughout the world to support those who fear suffering (which is a blessing from God -- and I don't say this casually as I have had my share of blessings of this nature) and also to pray for an end to the culture of death.

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