‘The topic is not ripe’: Former minister Francois Brown expresses doubts about the end-of-life bill

Although the end-of-life bill received its first reading in the House of Assembly on Monday, its contours are still being debated. In an interview with La Tribune Dimanche newspaper, François Braun, Elisabeth Borne’s health minister, deplored the “unacceptable” elements contained in the text, which is set to offer “assisted death” to some patients for the first time in France.

“There are many things in the text as it stands that are unacceptable,” insisted the former minister, who remained in office for a year before coming clean. “For example, a doctor could make a decision about death based on the case file without examining the patient. This is unthinkable. The desire to commit suicide is individual,” he complained. “If assisted death is introduced, the responsibility should not be placed on the doctor,” he continued.

“The topic is not ripe”

The former minister, an emergency physician by profession, wishes to “leave the medical profession in its rightful place.” “The physician must first have a full discussion with the specialist who is monitoring the patient, the palliative care physician, the psychiatrist” to make a decision, “but everything else is not his. If we are moving towards assisted suicide, it should not be a medical procedure,” he insisted in this interview.

François Brown also calls for “listening to the views of Medef, trade unions and other intermediary bodies” on the issue, arguing that “death is not a medical issue, it is a social issue.” “The topic is not ripe,” he emphasizes.

“For forty years I have cared for patients in every circumstance you can imagine (…) Whatever the circumstances, (death) is always a tragedy. We will not soften the law with the help of law,” he finally warned.

Emmanuel Macron presented his decisions on this highly sensitive issue on March 10, almost a year after the end of the Citizens’ Congress dedicated to the issue. It’s time to improve the “French end-of-life model” offering “assisted death” that allows certain patients under “strict conditions” to receive a “lethal substance.”

Among these conditions, according to the government: suffering from a “serious and incurable condition that threatens life’s prognosis in the short or medium term,” reaching adulthood, being able to freely and knowingly express one’s will, and presenting with suffering that is untreatable or intolerable. But debate in the Assembly select committee led to changes in several key points, jeopardizing what many believe is that delicate balance. It is expected that the bill will continue its legislative development until at least the summer of 2025.