EUTHANASIA DEBATE FLARES UP IN FRANCE

Dr. Guilty of Euthanasia Acquitted   PARIS, Sept 28 (LSN) – Zenit news reported last week that Bernard Kouchner, France’s Secretary of Health,  has agreed to acquit a doctor charged with violating medical ethics in the killing of one of his patients.  Dr. Jean-Paul Duffaut, director of the geriatric service “Maurice Fenaille” of the Severac-le-Chateau hospital in Aveyron, admitted to killing a 92 year old patient with an injection of potassium-chloride.  Duffaut failed to inform the victim’s family, but claims he acted after consulting other doctors who agreed to the action.  Kouchner based his decision on a report from a regional branch of the College of Physicians. Remarkably,  after investigating the case, the Council of the College of Physicians of the Midi-Pyrenees region of France ruled that Duffaut did not violate the code of medical ethics. Kouchner agreed with the report saying, “I know this decision has not been unanimous   and we have a long way to go before uprooting the word euthanasia from our vocabulary, and substituting it with the phrase ‘support in death.’”  One source of criticism for the decision was the National Council of the College of Physicians, reported Zenit. They condemned the decision saying “We cannot support the option which would allow a doctor to become the notary public of death.”