[Ambiguities of medicine in the face of forms of death].

Abstract

For thirty years, several healthcare systems have been offering medical assistance in dying (MAID) in the form of euthanasia or assisted suicide. This development is transforming medicine's relationship to death. From a legal perspective, MAID does not constitute a right to die, but rather, as a form of conditional decriminalization, an exception to the general prohibition on killing, under certain strict and controlled conditions. Nevertheless, the number of MAID cases and of countries decriminalizing MAID is increasing: what meaning should be given to this development? This shift raises the question of the meaning of death as a "natural fact" or a "voluntary act," a meaning that cannot, in any case, be reduced to its purely biological dimension. Is MAID an exception? Or does it establish new rules that integrate MAID into ordinary medical care? The answer does not belong solely to the medical field, but to ethical choices that resonate with citizens' expectations.