END(S) OF LIFE, WHAT NORM(S) FOR TOMORROW?

Abstract

What are the norms wh ich, tomorrow, will govern life
as it comes to an end? This question – which calls for
prudence and circumspection – deserves to be understood
in the light of formal and material considerations. On a
formal level, the drawing up, within the framework of
the Council of Europe, of an international instrument of
synthesis – bringing together existing but scattered rules
(declarations and conventions) – certainly seems hard to
envisage, at least in the immediate future. Furthermore,
as far as French law is concerned, the question may be
raised about the insertion into the law ‘relative to bioethics’ of rules relative to a life that is ending. On a material level, the divergence of points of view expressed
within the States, is not favourable, in certain areas, to
the formation within the Council of Europe, of specific
unifying international rules (artificial nutrition and
hydration, anticipated instructions, terminal phase sedation, compassionate euthanasia). However, eugenic
euthanasia, implicitly opposed by the Oviedo
Convention, manages to bring people together. As for
France, opinions are just as diverse, but the most recent
studies carried out by Parliament show that it is necessary
to transcend opposition which for several years has hindered the desirable chance to go beyond the legal framework
offered by the law of 22 April 2005