Without authorization for assisted death, a 57-year-old Frenchman suffering from an incurable disease wants to let himself die live on Facebook to denounce the inadequacy of the current law and demand the right to “a dignified death”.
The case has known strong media coverage in France since the patient, Alain Cocq, asked the President, Emmanuel Macron, to intervene to authorize a doctor to prescribe a barbiturate that would allow him to “leave in peace”.
“Because I am not above the law, I am not in a position to accede to your request,” Macron replied in a letter dated Thursday.
“His desire is to ask for active help to die, which is currently not authorized in our country,” added the President, expressing, however, his “personal support” and “deep respect” for Alain Cocq.
The Claeys-Léonetti law on end of life, adopted in France in 2016, authorizes deep sedation, but only in people whose vital prognosis is at risk “in the short term”.
Alain Cocq, who says he has been “in the final stages for 34 years” due to a disabling degenerative disease, cannot show that his life will end soon.
A “death with dignity” activist, Cocq has already traveled extensively in Europe in a wheelchair to promote his cause, and asked Macron for help on a phone call on July 25 with a presidential advisor, but only now has he had an answer.
Alain Cocq decided to “let himself die”, stopping taking food, liquids or medicines, with the exception of painkillers, starting today “at bedtime”.
“I decided to say ‘stop’. Little by little, all the vital organs will be affected,” he explained to France-Presse, adding that, as it stands, he is taking as much morphine as possible to fight constant pain.
Alain Cocq suffers from an extremely rare degenerative disease that causes the walls of the arteries to stick together, resulting in ischemia (suspension of blood circulation in a tissue or organ).
“My intestines empty into a bag. My bladder empties into a bag. I feel full and my stomach is knotted. If I look at the ceiling like an idiot waiting for it to happen, no “.
To “show the French what the agony Leonetti is obliged to do”, Alain Cocq will transmit his end of life, which he estimates will take “four to five days”, starting on Saturday morning, live on his page on Facebook.
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