A 60-year-old French man awoke from a coma after a serious accident. Doctors at a hospital in Paris believe that the treatment keeping him alive is “unreasonable” and want it to be discontinued. He is now fighting for his right to continue living.
France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’État, has just ruled in the doctors’ favour. The judgment contains the remarkable statement:
– The patient’s wishes are subordinate to the law.
Conscious and wishes to continue living
Rémi R. is in hospital and dependent on life-saving treatment. He is conscious and has clearly expressed his wish to continue living. Nevertheless, the doctors have concluded that further treatment is “disproportionate” and wish to discontinue it.
The case illustrates euthanasia legislation at an extremely early stage: it is only days since Macron got his way and France adopted its euthanasia law. In this case, the patient’s expressly stated wish to continue living is being weighed against the doctors’ and the system’s assessment of what constitutes “reasonable” treatment.
Macron fikk viljen sin: Frankrike vedtar assistert dødshjelp
Opponents of the euthanasia law point to this case and argue that it demonstrates that the state and the healthcare system can override the wishes of a conscious patient. They fear a slippery slope similar to that seen in Canada, where “quality of life” and economic considerations gradually come to carry greater weight than the patient’s own desire to live. Christians and conservatives regard it as a cultural shift in which death is chosen over life when life becomes an economic burden. They are also concerned that the vague boundary between passive and active euthanasia will be erased.
This is everyone’s worst nightmare.
60 year old Remi had an accident that caused severe neurological damage and he was left in a coma.
While he was in a coma his medical team at Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris decided that it was futile to prolong his life and started… pic.twitter.com/yVEgbqzR0a
— Miss Jo (@therealmissjo) July 26, 2026
Rémi is fighting for his life. Who decides when a human being should die – God, the individual, the state, or the doctors? The patient’s wishes are subordinate to the law?