French Parliament approves 'end of life' law

PARIS - France's parliament has approved a law that will allow terminally ill patients to opt for death instead of further treatment, but which supporters say stops short of permitting euthanasia.

In an overnight session, the Senate adopted a text already approved by the lower house that allows doctors to stop giving medical assistance when it "seems useless, disproportionate or has no effect other than maintaining life artificially."

Passage of the law followed a wave of sympathy for a mother seeking euthanasia for her crippled son.

The draft bill says terminally ill patients should have the right to ask for treatment to be stopped, even if that leads to death, and doctors should respect their wishes after verification with the patient and medical colleagues.

The law also suggests families should be able to request an end to life support for unconscious patients, and says doctors can prescribe pain-stopping drugs for a terminally ill patient, even if the medication increases the risk of dying.

The authors of the law -- supported by the conservative government, opposition Socialists and the Roman Catholic Church -- have said the bill does not copy voluntary euthanasia which is legal in Belgium and the Netherlands.

They say it is distinct from euthanasia because it does not allow the doctor to actively end the patient's life.

Passage of the law follows the dispute in the United States over whether Congress should have the right to intervene to restore the feeding tube of brain-damaged Terri Schiavo.

She died earlier this month, 15 years after suffering major brain damage and nearly two weeks after her feeding tube was removed by court order.

Euthanasia became a national issue in France after Vincent Humbert, a 22-year-old injured in a road accident, begged President Jacques Chirac to let his mother end his life in 2003.

Humbert's accident left him blind, mute, paralyzed and in constant pain. Shortly after Humbert wrote a book about his wish to die, his mother tried but failed to kill him with a lethal injection.

Humbert's doctor later took him off life support and he died shortly afterwards. But the doctor was then put under a judicial investigation for "poisoning with intent."

Critics of the new law said the text would not have allowed Marie Humbert to actively end her son's life. But other doctors say it will help clarify the difficult choices available to doctors in such situations.

Many pro-life groups and representatives of the Roman Catholic Church said they agreed with the proposed law.

- REUTERS