By Gudrun Schultz
PARIS, France, March 9, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – More than 2000 French medical professionals have issued a petition calling for laws to permit active euthanasia, saying they already engage in the practice when a patient’s life becomes “intolerable” due to “physical and psychological suffering.”
“Because disease was certain to defeat medical procedures, because in spite of treatment, physical and psychological suffering had rendered the life of a patient intolerable, we medical staff, have consciously helped patients to die with decency,” the petition reads.
The declaration was signed by 2,134 medical professionals and published Thursday in the weekly Nouvel Observateur, Reuters reported yesterday.
Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition in Canada, questioned whether the signers of the petition were actually involved in euthanasia or whether they were simply involved in allowing death to occur by ending aggressive medical treatment.
“Often people become confused by language and definitions,” Schadenberg told LifeSiteNews.com in an email commentary.
He also questioned the comment claiming euthanasia is frequently practiced by French doctors, pointing out that a study last year in the UK proved that the actual number of clandestine euthanasia deaths in their country was much less than the pro-euthanasia people have stated.
“There seems to be a push to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide based on the argument that it is happening already,” Schadenberg said. “Studies have proven that this is not the case. The other fact is that some people are intentionally breaking the law in order to create pressure to change the law. These cases are actually rare compared to the total number of people who receive end-of-life care.”
The petition comes as a trial opens for a French doctor and nurse accused of committing euthanasia in August, 2003. The doctors call for the charges against the pair to be dropped, and demand a new law that would allow active euthanasia, modeled on the laws operating in Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
With France facing an election in just a few weeks, euthanasia has become a campaign issue for presidential candidates. Contender Ségolène Royal has promised to legalize euthanasia if elected, while frontrunner Nicolas Sarkozy, a Catholic, has presented himself as a pro-family candidate with policies more in line with the Church.
See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
France Presidential Hopeful Royal Promises to Legalize Euthanasia
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07022001.html