Legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide: advanced cancer patient opinions – cross-sectional multicentre study

Sebastien Salas (1, 2) , Guillaume Economos (3) , Damien Hugues (4) , Elise Gilbert (5) , Dominique Gracia (6) , Philippe Poulain (7) , Christine Mateus (8, 9, 10) , Elsa Collet (11) , Brigitte Planchet-Barraud (12) , Andre Colpaert (13) , Élise Perceau-Chambard (14) , Laurent Yves Calvel (15, 16, 17) , Cecile Franck (18) , Donatien Mallet (19, 20) , Karine Baumstarck (21, 22) , Adrien Evin (13)

1 Service d’Oncologie Médicale [Hôpital de la Timone - APHM]
2 COMPO - Méthodes computationnelles pour la prise en charge thérapeutique en oncologie : Optimisation des stratégies par modélisation mécaniste et statistique
3 CICLY - Centre pour l'innovation en cancérologie de Lyon
4 CH Toulon
5 UNICANCER/CAL - Centre de Lutte contre le Cancer Antoine Lacassagne [Nice]
6 Hopital de Salon de Provence
7 (U 726) - Bioinformatique génomique et moléculaire
8 IGR - Institut Gustave Roussy
9 Université Paris-Saclay
10 DIOPP - Département interdisciplinaire d’organisation des parcours patients
11 Centre Hospitalier de Martigues
12 Hôpital Saint-Joseph [Marseille]
13 CHU Nantes - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Nantes
14 Palliative Care Center, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
15 HUS - Les Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg
16 FMTS - Fédération de Médecine Translationnelle de Strasbourg
17 INCI - Institut des Neurosciences Cellulaires et Intégratives
18 CH St Omer - Centre Hospitalier de la Région de Saint Omer
19 EES - Éducation Éthique Santé EA 7505
20 CHRU Tours - Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Tours
21 SPMC - Santé Publique et maladies Chroniques : Qualité de vie Concepts, Usages et Limites, Déterminants
22 TIMONE - Hôpital de la Timone [CHU - APHM]

Objectives The French government voted a new law in February 2016 called the Claeys-Leonetti Law, which established the right to deep and continuous sedation, confirmed the ban on euthanasia and ruled out physician-assisted suicide. The aim of this work was to gather the opinion of patients on continuous sedation and the legalisation of medical assistance in dying and to explore determinants associated with favourable and unfavourable opinions. Methods This was a French national prospective multicentre study between 2016 and 2020. Results 331 patients with incurable cancer suffering from locally advanced or metastatic cancer in 14 palliative care units were interviewed. 48.6% of participants expressed a favourable opinion about physician-assisted suicide and 27.2% an unfavourable opinion about its legalisation. Regarding euthanasia, 52% of patients were in favour of its legalisation. In univariate analysis, the only factor determining opinion was belief in God. Conclusions While most healthy French people are in favour of legalising euthanasia, only half of palliative care patients expressed this opinion. Medical palliative care specialists were largely opposed to euthanasia. The only determining factor identified was a cultural factor that was independent of the other studied variables. This common factor was found in other studies conducted on cohorts from other countries. This study contributes to the knowledge and thinking about the impact of patients’ personal beliefs and values regarding their opinions about euthanasia and assisted suicide. Trial registration number NCT03664856 .

Domaines: Ethique

Sebastien Salas, Guillaume Economos, Damien Hugues, Elise Gilbert, Dominique Gracia, et al.. Legalisation of euthanasia and assisted suicide: advanced cancer patient opinions – cross-sectional multicentre study. BMJ Palliative and supportive care, 2023, 13 (e3), pp.e1335-e1341. ⟨10.1136/spcare-2022-004134⟩. ⟨hal-04382168⟩