Disfigured french woman manages to euthanise herself at last

[Nick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080327/hl ... euthanasia

DIJON, France (AFP) - A severely disfigured French woman, found dead this month after a court rejected her request for euthanasia, took a lethal overdose of barbiturates, a prosecutor said on Thursday.
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Former schoolteacher Chantal Sebire, 52, suffered from a rare and incurable tumour which severely deformed her face and caused her to lose the sense of smell, taste and finally her eyesight.

Her body was found at her home in Plombieres-les-Dijon on March 19, two days after the high court in the eastern French city of Dijon decided current French law did not allow her doctor to prescribe her lethal drugs.

"The tests conducted reveal the presence in the blood of a toxic concentration of barbiturate, Pentobarbital," prosecutor Jean-Pierre Alacchi told reporters in Dijon.

"The concentration found is three times the lethal level for this product," he said, adding that investigators were working to establish how Sebire obtained the drug, which is not delivered by French pharmacies.

The drug Pentobarbital is commonly used for animal euthanasia and can be legally prescribed for assisted human suicide in Switzerland, Belgium and the US state of Oregon.

In her request to the high court, Sebire said she wanted to put an end to "atrocious suffering" and an irreversible worsening of her condition, called an esthesioneuroblastoma.

The mother-of-three had said she would not appeal the decision and that she would find life-terminating drugs through other means.

Before-and-after pictures of Sebire, along with her account of frightened children who ran away at the sight of her, attracted a strong outpouring of sympathy in France.

The case prompted doctors, politicians and intellectuals calling for a debate on a change to French law to allow euthanasia in exceptional cases.

Legislation adopted in 2005 allows families to request that life-support equipment for a terminally-ill patient be switched off, but does not allow a doctor to take action to end a patient's life.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are the only European Union countries that currently allow active euthanasia.

Poor woman. I'm an advocate of principled, voluntary Euthanasia under the laws set down in places such as the Netherlands. It's a crying shame this woman was denied the opportunity to end her life in a basic manner. Although arguably, her suicide is more dignified after being refused, as it simply highlights the refusal of the French Government to have a serious, adult debate over Euthanasia.

[laneela]

The poor lady... May she rest in peace.

[Fash]

Suicide, like abortion, needs to be legal... and in some cases encouraged.

[Winnow]

Yeah, not sure why they have suicide prevention centers. There should be suicide help centers. Over 18, you should be able to end your life.

[Spang]

Suicide hotline, please hold.

[Winnow]

So many people back out of suicides. The help center could have a special suicide room you enter. Once you go through, there's no going back. You have 30 minutes to kill yourself however you choose (center can provide a variety of ways to end your life), if you're not dead in 30 minutes, they can gas the room. For $5.00 they'll post it on YouTube.

---

Re the topic. There has to be a way to end your life without having to do it yourself. Worse is if the person fails and is then even more seriously out of sorts, and still alive. If they could go somewhere and have it done properly, it would make things easier for everyone. (police, clean up crews, etc)

I can see the debate over brain dead people as they can't actually tell someone to kill them but an adult with an incurable/painful affliction should be able to end it all.

[Drolgin Steingrinder]

Would require really strong judicial backing to avoid some nasty battles. There was a much publicized case a few years ago where a deceased had donated his or her organs upon death and the family managed to get a judge to block it, even though it was unequivocal in the will.

[Kaldaur]

Ehh, I've already decided that if I ever get diagnosed with something like Alzhiemer's, I'll just drive OD on painkillers. No point in continuing to live when your facilities are taken from you (like this woman, poor soul).

[Toshira]

Yeah, not sure why they have suicide prevention centers.

Please stop pretending to be stupid, Winnowpants. You're not.

[Metanis]

They had state-assisted suicide in Russia for many years. Very efficient system as I understand it.

[Kaldaur]

Yes, because Stalin annihilating 30 million of his own people, and a woman who has lost her senses and has no desire to continue a miserable existence are the exact same thing.

[Aslanna]

They had state-assisted suicide in Russia for many years. Very efficient system as I understand it.

Source please. From what I could tell, based on a quick search, euthanasia is illegal in Russia. There was a bill to legalize it last year but I don't think it passed. Even if it passed, which I don't think it did, that wouldn't qualify as "many years."

Link to news article.