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Why France is allowing terminally ill people to end their life · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Dying on your own terms. France has just approved the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: law that will give terminally ill patients the right to die.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: For my teen's husband, Philippe, this change comes too late.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: After years of illness, she arranged for him to be
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: euthanized in Belgium.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: When I was certain that it would work, I told
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  Speaker 2: my husband. He was incredibly relieved. This is a law
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: that will make it easier to kill another person simply
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: for reasons of convenience.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: So will this new law bring people more freedom at
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: the end of life or does it carry too many risks.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: We are in Brittany, France, in the small town of Lenon.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: Mateen still lives in the house she and Philippe brought
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: for their retirement. Today she lives here alone, surrounded by
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: pictures that remind her of the man she was with
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  Speaker 1: for more than fifty years. In March, Philip ended his life.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: When it does to me to look at this picture,
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  Speaker 2: it breaks my heart because this is the man I
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: have always loved in how I remember him exactly like this,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: him with his dogs going on walks in the forest.
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  Speaker 2: It touches me deeply and I will never forget.
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, Philip was diagnosed with brain cancer at
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  Speaker 1: the age of fifty nine. Martine, who had known him
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: as an active and sporty man, saw his condition deterior
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: rate year after year. Eventually he depended on Martin and
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: several nurses to get through the day.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: The day he realized that he would never walk again,
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: he told told me he did not want to continue
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: like this. I want to commit suicide. I want to die,
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  Speaker 2: he said. We did not have a gun at home,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: but if we had, I would have given it to him.
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: With no legal option in France, Martine began looking across
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  Speaker 1: the border. After a long search, she found an organization
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: which helps foreign patients request euthanasia in Belgium. She described
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: Philip's condition. Not long after the call came.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Regarding your husband. There is no problem. They told me
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: he can come to Belgium. So when I was certain
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of that, I told my husband. He was incredibly relieved
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and he thanked me.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: What has come too late for Philip may now become
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: possible for others in France. Here in Paris, after months
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of political battle, the National Assembly has passed a law
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: on what is called aid in dying, but lawmakers made
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  Speaker 1: sure access is tightly restricted. Only French adults with an
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: incurable illness at an advanced or terminal stage are covered
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: by the law. They must suffer unbearable pain and be
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  Speaker 1: able to express a free and informed wish to die.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: In most cases, patients would take the lethal substance themselves.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: A doctor can administer it if the patient is too
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: weak to do so. In France, opinion polls suggest broad
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: public support for a sister dying. Many people see the
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: new law as a matter of dignity and choice.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: I'm in favor because we have experienced this in our family.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Someone was terminally ill and suffered greatly.
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  Speaker 3: Everyone should be able to decide when they want to die.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: Of course, there need to be safeguards and strict conditions.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: It cannot be done carelessly.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Others are against the law for religious reasons.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Life is a gift, we should not take it away.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: That's why for me, euthanasia is something very serious. It
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: may start quietly, but I see it as the beginning
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  Speaker 2: of a path towards killing.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: For opponents like Lilli Giganorus and Nicoladobridge, the debate goes
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  Speaker 1: beyond individual freedom. They say it is about the way
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  Speaker 1: society treats people. Who are ill, old or disabled, and
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: whether some lives are seen as worthless.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: It is this idea that becoming disabled means decline, and
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: that suicide somehow becomes the logical solution. As a disabled person,
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  Speaker 2: I've had strangers in the street tell me that I
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: should kill myself. That is not just an isolated insult.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: It reflects a deeply rooted system of oppression.
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  Speaker 1: They say, France should, above all, make sure that people
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  Speaker 1: have the palliative care they.
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  Speaker 3: Need before fighting for a right to euthanasia. We should
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: first fight to make sure every patient has access to
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  Speaker 3: care and to every form of support that can help
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: them cope with the shock of illness.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: They are also worried about the wording of the law.
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  Speaker 1: They argue it applies not only to people who are
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  Speaker 1: terminally ill, but also to those at an advanced stage
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  Speaker 1: of the illness.
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  Speaker 3: The term advanced stage could even include people who are
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: not yet facing death.
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  Speaker 1: Professor Francois Damas works at the Citadel Hospital in Liege, Belgium.
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  Speaker 1: He has helped hundreds of patients access euthanasia, including people
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: from France. Martin's husband Philippe, was one of them.
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: The law is a step in the right direction. It
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  Speaker 3: gives patients more freedom to choose how they die when
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  Speaker 3: they are facing a serious illness that has become incurable.
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  Speaker 3: That for me is the biggest progress. We are talking
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  Speaker 3: about the end of life, we are talking about death.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: These laws have made that conversation possible.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: He hopes that now French patients won't have to cross
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  Speaker 1: the board order to Belgium, and he reject the idea
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: that legalizing his sister dying will automatically lead to abuse.
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  Speaker 3: Thinking that there is an inevitable slippery slope where euthanasia
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  Speaker 3: becomes normalized and carried out carelessly. That is simply not true,
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: because the decision belongs to the patients, surrounded by their family.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: That is a real barrier and there are major safeguards.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Martine and her family want to keep the memories of
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  Speaker 1: Philippe alive, thankful for the time they had right up
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to the very last moment together in the hospital room
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: in Belgium.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: We should not judge how other people face suffering at
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: the end of life. Some people want to keep going
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: until the end, even through extremely painful experiences. I have
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: deep respect for that, But others cannot bear that suffering.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: They should have the right to choose when to go.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Martine says helping Philippe was one of the hardest things
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: she's ever lived through, but she believes he should not
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: have had to leave his own country to make that choice.