A draft French law to allow terminally ill patients to opt for death over further treatment has won widespread support, after a wave of sympathy last year for a mother seeking euthanasia for her crippled son.
France's parliament will start debating a law tomorrow, which allows doctors to switch off patients' life-support machines if "there is no hope to achieve an improvement in the person's health and if these extend life artificially".
The authors of the law - supported by the conservative government, opposition Socialists and the Roman Catholic Church - have emphasised the bill does not copy voluntary euthanasia now legal in Belgium and the Netherlands.
The draft bill says terminally ill patients should have the right to ask for treatment to be stopped, even if that leads to death, and doctors should respect their wishes after verification with the patient and medical colleagues.
Supporters of the draft bill say it is distinct from euthanasia because it does not allow the doctor to actively end the patient's life.
The law also suggests families should be able to request an end to life support for unconscious patients.
"We will have a new culture. It will not be hypocrisy and the current status quo. It will not be euthanasia, but a French law which will live up to the dignity of life," Health Minister Mr Philippe Douste-Blazy told parliament yesterday.