A doctor who chose an assisted death
BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h4385 (Published 19 August 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h4385
- Richard Hurley, features and debates editor, The BMJ
- rhurley{at}bmj.com
“Suddenly, when he knew that the exit was close, he was a different man.” On the day he had chosen to die, 8 May 2012, Veronique Bataille’s father seemed to have been freed from the increasing, persistent, and excruciating pain that had resulted from bone metastases secondary to prostate cancer.
“I think that it was because he knew exactly when he was going to go that he had four or five hours of amazing lucidity. He got up. He washed on his own. He shaved,” she said. He had even requested an outfit from his wife; “He really wanted to plan the day well. He looked amazing.”
And now, at his chosen time and looking his best, he sat on the hospital bed with his wife and four children around him. “Thank you for allowing me to go the way I want to go,” he told them.
Powerless to help his own patients
Henri Bataille, born in 1935, had spent his life as a family doctor in rural southern Belgium. He had often felt powerless to help his own patients who were dying in pain, and he welcomed Belgium’s legislation on assisted dying in 2002. “I will want it if ever I’m in that situation,” he told his family.
Henri Bataille had prostate cancer diagnosed in his late 60s. Treatment brought remission for five years. Then the discovery of metastases led Bataille to register for an assisted death, before the pain and drugs that were certain …
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