Euthanasia under French law

Under criminal law, euthanasia can have two distinct qualifications: that of homicide in the event that the act of directly killing another person is characterized, or that of assisting a third party in the suicide. These two qualifications are applicable on the condition that the agent — the author of the act of causing death — is not the one who went through it. In fact, selfeuthanasia is nothing more than suicide.

In addition to euthanasia imposed to a third party (such as in the case of Malevre, nurse from Mantes-la-Jolie, tried in 2003), the euthanasia requested and subscribed constitutes a complex legal question. Answering this question first involves specifying the position of contemporary criminal law in the face of suicide.

In the event that suicide is only decriminalized, in fact, the author of the act — regardless of the outcome of his actions, who is himself the victim, cannot be prosecuted. Nor ultimately receive any condemnation.

However, this lack of prosecution and conviction is by no means an endorsement of the act — suicide — by the law.

Moreover, in the event that suicide is a right, it would then be necessary to agree that any candidate for this act can request assistance in the accomplishment of his death. Given these two opposing approaches, imposed on us the question of whether there is a right to die.

Although the euthanasia imposed is unequivocally under ordinary criminal law, the euthanasia requested and granted is not based on any rights. To date, there is no right to approve a death request, but on the other hand, it does allow it to be respected and to some extent promotes its approach with dignity. This work will focus on two central points which are the possibility that euthanasia is a homicide under common law (I) and the attitude of French law concerning the right to death (II).

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4. The Criminal Code. — АгГ 1321-71, as amended by Law No. 2004-204 of 9 March 2004, art. 12 // JORF. — 10 March 2004.

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11. Law No. 2009-879 of 21 July 2009 ‘On hospital reform, including issues of patients, health care and territories.'

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16. The Public Health Code. — Art. L.1110-2, came into force by Law No. 2002-303 of 4 March 2002. — Art. 3 // JORF. — 5 March 2002.

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