French parliamentary committee advocates passive euthanasia

Doctors' associations in France have welcomed a report by a parliamentary committee recommending that passive euthanasia should be allowed.

In a landmark report, the cross party committee of 31 deputies recommended that terminally ill patients should be given the right to refuse treatment in certain circumstances. The committee said, however, that active euthanasia—that is, when a doctor acts deliberately to cause a patient's death—should not be legalised.

The health minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy, said that the government was ready to accept the committee's recommendations and give terminally ill patients a greater right …