Overview

• The National Assembly approved the bill by 305 votes to 199, with leftist and centrist deputies in favor and conservative and far-right lawmakers opposed.
• Patients over 18 who are French citizens or residents must have an advanced or terminal incurable illness causing intolerable and untreatable suffering to qualify for lethal medication.
• Doctors or nurses may assist self-administration only if patients cannot do so themselves, while those with severe psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders are explicitly excluded.
• President Emmanuel Macron hailed the vote as “an important step” and lawmakers also passed a separate bill strengthening palliative care unanimously.
• The draft law now moves to the Senate, where its conservative majority could amend key provisions or trigger a referendum if parliamentary agreement falters.