After rejecting any form of right to assisted dying, the Senate on Monday considered a more consensual bill on access to palliative care, a priority declared by the right-wing majority in the upper house.
The text by Macronist MP Annie Vidal, which will be put to a vote on Wednesday, has de facto been relegated to the background in this parliamentary discussion on end of life, behind the planned creation of an assisted dying system, examined in parallel.
This law, which legalizes assisted suicide and euthanasia under certain conditions, was distorted by the Senate last week, at the initiative of the most conservative wing of the right and the centrists.
The debates had become heated over the first text. They generally calmed down on the second Monday, even though the left denounced the attitude of the Senate majority, accusing it of only going "halfway" on the debate on end-of-life care.
The right and centrists, for their part, have assumed that they consider palliative care as "a prerequisite": "depending on the ambition we put into palliative care, then we can consider assisted dying," assured centrist Anne-Sophie Romagny.
This bill initially aimed to "guarantee equal access for all to support and palliative care." To this end, members of parliament voted to establish an "enforceable" right to palliative care.
But the senators removed it, in agreement with the government, fearing it would cause "disappointment among patients and families" because it would not, in itself, increase the supply of care. Health Minister Stéphanie Rist considered it to be "just a promise," anticipating "numerous legal disputes."
– What resources?
The minister also supported the establishment of a national palliative care “strategy”, preferred to a genuine multi-year programming law, voted on by the deputies.
The government has earmarked 100 million euros of investment in this area in the Social Security budget for 2026. Senators voted to double the annual amount allocated to the sector in the coming years, although some parliamentarians pointed out that these numerical targets would not be binding.
While around ten departments do not currently have a palliative care unit, the text creates "support and palliative care homes".
The Senate, dominated by the right, also expressed its concerns regarding the resources being mobilized. "If there is no political will behind this, which translates into financial resources, we will have worked on an issue without any concrete return on the ground," worried Philippe Mouiller, the LR chairman of the Social Affairs Committee.
The two bills concerning end-of-life care will be put to a vote on Wednesday afternoon. However, the vote on the bill concerning assisted dying will be largely meaningless, as the text has been significantly weakened.
The National Assembly will examine them in second reading the week of February 16, with its president Yaël Braun-Pivet hoping to achieve a final adoption "before the summer" on this major societal reform, a promise made by Emmanuel Macron.
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