By Wesley J. Smith
A bit ago I wrote about how the French Senate was considering legalizing terminal sedation as a way to kill the terminally ill.
That column also distinguished between the slow motion euthanasia by dehydration/starvation of terminal sedation and the legitimate and ethical pain controlling technique of palliative sedation. I won’t repeat that here.
If you are interested, go to www.nationalreview.com/human-exceptionalism/419841/france-debates-slow-motion-euthanasia-wesley-j-smith.
In any event, the French Senate wisely said no to slo-mo killings. From the AP story:
France’s senate has voted against a bill allowing the sedation of terminally ill patients, fearing it would lead to allowing euthanasia, which is illegal in the country. Senators in Paris rejected the law by a vote of 196-87.
Unfortunately, that isn’t the end of it as the National Assembly passed the bill. Under the French system, that means more legislative process, with the Assembly apparently having the final say.
But the Senate’s overwhelming rejection is good news for ethical medicine–at least for now.
Editor’s note. This appeared on Wesley’s great blog.