A French court convicted a doctor for the poisoning death of
a terminally ill cancer patient Thursday. Dr. Laurence Tramois
was sentenced to a one-year suspended prison sentence for prescribing
a fatal dose of potassium chloride that resulted in the death
of Paulette Drualis in August 23, 2003. The case has stirred
debate over the issue of euthanasia in the current French presidential
race; Segolene Royal, candidate of France's Parti Socialiste,
has indicated that she will push for a new law to allow euthanasia
under certain circumstances. Nicolas Sarkozy, candidate for
the ruling conservative Union pour un Mouvement Populaire
(UMP), has also suggested of a future law allowing euthanasia.
Francois Bayrou, the candidate of the center-right Union pour
la Democratie Francaise (UDP), has also indicated support for
legalizing euthanasia, saying Monday that such decisions are
medical in nature and should be reserved for doctors and patients,
not the law. France's two-round presidential elections are slated
to take place on April 22 and May 6.
On Wednesday, Inmaculada Echevarria, a Spanish women who had
suffered muscular dystrophy for 40 years, was allowed to have
doctors disconnect her breathing machine in a case that highlighted
the issue of euthanasia in Spain, where the practice also remains
illegal. Government authorities allowed the procedure because
Echevarria's case technically involved a refusal of medical
treatment. Assisted suicide has been legalized in Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Switzerland. A proposed bill that would legalize
the option of assisted suicide in the United Kingdom was set
aside by the House of Lords in May of last year following opposition
from the public and two physician groups. In January of last
year, the US Supreme Court upheld Oregon's Death with Dignity
Act, the only American state law that allows physician-assisted
suicide.
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