concern within nursing homes

A crucial point of the text has passed under radars. In discussion in the National Assembly since May 12, 2025, the end of life law would authorize acts of active aid to die – assisted suicide or euthanasia – in residences for dependent elderly people. “Accommodation in an EHPAD cannot hinder the access of a sick person for helping to die,” it was indicated in the bill led last year by Emmanuel Macron before the dissolution of the National Assembly.

Since then, the law has been split into two by Prime Minister François Bayrou: a party is devoted to palliative care, the other establishes a “right to help to die”, which maintains the possibility of practicing this act in nursing homes.

This provision raises questions for the 7,450 establishments in France which welcomed more than 577,000 people in 2019. Is their mission, focused on life support with the most vulnerable, compatible with the practice of helping to die?

A large consultation

“It would be a form of ease to get rid of the elderly, which is considered fragile and non-productive within the company,” is alarmed by Dr. Pascal Meyvaert, president of the union of coordinating doctors in nursing homes and other structures, general practitioners or geriatricians (SMCG-CSMF). Other professionals in the sector are not of this opinion. “The residents come here to receive care and be actors in their lives,” explains a director of northern Ehpad. If they demand active help to die, I find it more worthy of being able to accompany them to the end in their will, with a specific framework, of course. »»

As with all citizens, only some residents would be affected by law. Strict and predefined criteria should be fulfilled: being French or stable resident, suffering from a serious and incurable disease, being in advanced or terminal phase engaging the vital prognosis; And above all, to be able to express your will in a free and enlightened manner.

The procedure would be as follows: the resident expresses his will to an active doctor, in this case the attending physician or the coordinator who intervenes in the EHPAD. The latter must then collect the opinion of a colleague outside the patient’s care. He can exchange with other caregivers intervening in the entourage of the patient, such as psychologists or nurses of the establishment, then renders his decision within fifteen days, a duration deemed too short and disputed by an amendment. If it is favorable, staff provide the lethal substance to the patient.

In the event that the latter is in the physical incapacity to absorb him himself, the caregivers administer it.

Opposite perceptions

“How to recruit staff if our mission is no longer to take care of residents?” “Worries Gaël Durel, vice-president of the National Association of Coordinators in Ehpad and the Medico-Social Sector. Such a choice can also have an impact on other elderly people and disrupt life in community. If the person speaks to the refectory to his table neighbors or during an activity, how to accompany other residents? Would there be a collective “goodbye”? “Deaths are still poorly taken care of today. If, in addition, the residents see doctors pass in a room like a parade, it is very violent… ”, reacts Laurence Reynes, co -founder of the circle of caregivers in nursing homes (CPAE).

Éliane, 90 years old, sees no problem, on the contrary. “Here, it has become at home,” says this old lady favorable to the law. I would be surrounded by the caregivers I love. If it does not know elsewhere, I would have the impression of being taken to the slaughterhouse. A brutal word that says the intimate upheaval that causes this question.

In a context where certain EHPADs are often accused of negligence, even mistreatment, loved ones could also worry about potential drifts. How to guarantee that the choice of the resident is really free; Whether solitude, fatigue or the feeling of being a charge for loved ones or the establishment have not played a decisive role? Above all, could an EHPAD management refuse the implementation of such a request? If the law is passed as it is, it will be necessary to answer these questions left unanswered.