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4h ago

French Senator Gilbert Bouchet, ALS Advocate, Dies at 78

He championed a law to improve care for ALS patients that the National Assembly passed unanimously in February.

Gilbert Bouchet, sénateur LR de la Drome, est mort lundi 20 octobre 2025. (Ici : Yannick Neuder, ancien ministre de la santé, accueille Gilbert Bouchet, atteint de la maladie de Charcot au centre hospitalier de Valence, le 9 mai 2025.)
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L’élu drômois avait ému le Sénat en octobre 2024.

Overview

  • The municipality of Tain-l’Hermitage announced on October 20 that Gilbert Bouchet died from complications of Charcot disease (ALS).
  • Bouchet was a Les Républicains senator for Drôme and a former longtime mayor of Tain-l’Hermitage, having first been elected mayor in 1995 and senator in 2014.
  • In October 2024 he appeared in the Senate while weakened and on a respirator to personally defend the reform improving ALS patient care.
  • His testimony drew a strong emotional response across the chamber, and the measure later secured unanimous approval in the National Assembly in February.
  • Political figures including Laurent Wauquiez posted tributes and vowed to continue the efforts Bouchet led for better ALS care, a disease affecting an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people in France.