The demand for active assistance to die by Chantal Sébire rejected

The decision on whether to grant the right to an active assistance in dying is not within the purview of justice but of the legislature. It is the sense of rejection by the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Dijon, Monday, March 17, the complaint exceptional Chantal Sébire, aged 52, suffers from an incurable disease, which had requested the right to prescribe Product lethal to die. While considering that the approach of Mrs Sébire "humanly possible" and that his "physical degradation deserves compassion," the vice-chairman of the tribunal, Jean-Rene Jaillet, said that "the judge in the state of the law France can only reject his application. " Ms. Sébire should not be used. In its order, the judge said that Ms. Jaillet Sébire "decided, and it is perfectly his right, lie outside the context of the current legislation on the end of life, rejecting the option of" letting die " (artificial coma, cessation of nutrition and hydration) established by the Act of 2005 Leonetti. He believes, however, that the request of the patient to "choose the moment of his death" by absorbing a dose of pentothal a doctor prescribed him "could not legally in the state of the law, prosper." The magistrate based on the concept of the right to life, enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights, on the code of medical ethics and the criminal code. The right to life. In her complaint, Ms. Sébire, supported by Mr. Gilles Antonowicz, argued that the European Convention recognizes the right of every person to life (Article 2) and freedom (Article 5), "which means that if life is a right, it can not be regarded as an obligation, which constitutes an obstacle to freedom. " The judge Jaillet felt on the contrary that "it is not possible to infer Article 2 of a right to die, either with the hands of another person or with the assistance of a public authority". The judge relied on the Pretty judgement of the European Court of Human Rights (April 29, 2002), the name of a British woman who had lodged an appeal against his country after being refused the right to assisted suicide. The ECHR had been dismissed by arguing that "it does not seem arbitrary that the law reflects the importance of the right to life by prohibiting assisted suicide." The medical ethics. The judge Jaillet asserts that the request of Ms. Sébire opposes the code of ethics. It states that "the doctor does not have the right to deliberately cause death." In his complaint, Mr. Antonowicz believed him, a doctor, applying the law Leonetti (stop treatment at the request of the patient, can shorten the life), rather than "let" his patient, " it helped "instead actively." For lawyers, we can not accept this wider view of the law Leonetti. "Arguably, it's the same thing in moral terms, but in legal terms, no," explains Frédérique Dreifuss-Netter, a law professor at the University Descartes-Paris-V and member of the National Ethics Advisory Committee. The legislature has chosen to place the cursor at that specific location in medical legitimizing certain attitudes that lead to death without cause directly. " The penal code. For the judge, the application of Ms. Sébire fall under Article 223-13 of the Criminal Code, which punishes "provocation to suicide". That argument leaves perplexed lawyers: they argue that suicide is not a crime, assisted suicide should not be penalized. "If a doctor gave a lethal product to a person who wishes to commit suicide, the only possible criminality seems to be the crime of failing to assist a person in danger", said Ms. Dreifuss-Netter. "The judge has sought a criminal offence to say that was within the scope of an action subject to prosecution, for its part believes Dominica Thouvenin, a law professor at the University Diderot-Paris-VII. Putting an end to the deliberate life someone is a homicide. It is not enough that the person is an understanding that this is a justification. " For lawyers, the law french, the demand for active assistance to die Mrs Sébire can only go unanswered. "The order of the judge is demonstrating that the law Leonetti has limits and that it will not solve all the cases, analysis Mrs. Dreifuss-Netter. It does not, such an individual patient incurable, which we neither is at the end of life, nor ventilated or artificially fed, to control his death. Should, however, change the law to go further? This is the legislature alone to decide. " Determined to put an end to his life, said Ms. Sébire, Sunday, March 16, she could obtain a lethal product abroad. Pete Hoebeke, a doctor at the University Hospital of Ghent in Flanders, has been officially invited to come to be euthanized in Belgium.

Colorectal cancer: Towards a new test

The National Cancer Institute (INCA) launched Tuesday, March 18, the second national week against colorectal cancer. From 24 to 30 March, it will educate physicians and patients at screening of a disease that affects 37,000 people each year, the third most common cancer. Announced in late 2007, the widespread screening for colorectal cancer is expected to be completed in late 2008. In addition, the test currently used should be replaced by a more efficient immunological test. Already established in 88 departments, the colorectal cancer screening is offered to some 16 million men and women aged 50 to 74 years, but is not always accepted. "Currently, the test reference is the Hemoccult II," says Dr. Jerome Viguier, Head of screening INCa. With this test microsaignements not visible to the naked eye in the stool that widespread screening occurs. But in March 2007, the National Academy of Medicine has put into question the "poor performance" of the test Hemoccult II. Bleeding occult justify conducting a colonoscopy. Practiced under anesthesia, the examination of the colon and rectum using a fiber optics can detect a lesion type of adenoma (polyp). On adenomas miles, one hundred reaching 1 cm in diameter and 25 become cancerous. ANOTHER METHOD Dr. Guy Launois (CHU de Caen) conducted a study on another type of test, based on an automated immunoassay method, the dose amount of haemoglobin present in the stool sample. "Results on 20000 people, 30000 and soon showed the superiority of the test on the Hemoccult II, primarily for large adenomas," notes Dr. Viguier. The INCa funded further studies on the immunological test and the respective performances of the various existing tests. "There is a particular determine the level of sensitivity that should have immunological consideration. With a threshold too restrictive, it miss cancers, it is too broad, it would result in too many unnecessary colonoscopies," says Dr. Viguier. The INCA will launch a tender to select the immunological test, which will take over from the Hemoccult II.

Bird flu pandemic

Vietnam has announced its intention to soon test a vaccine against bird flu on human beings. This vaccine could, if the tests are successful, be used to immunize human beings and poultry against the H5N1 virus of bird flu. On Vietnam, one of the countries hardest hit by the avian flu virus, will begin testing a vaccine on human beings in the coming weeks, according to a senior military medical. The manager has not given a more specific date but said that the Ministry of Health of Vietnam has approved tests which will last for eight months at the Academy of Military Medical Ha Tay province near Hanoi.

The state must intervene to allow euthanasia?

The high court in Dijon today rejected the demand for Sébire Chantal, which claims the right to "die with dignity". Madam Sébire suffers from a "esthesioneuroblastome", a tumor evolutionary sinuses and the nasal cavity, an incurable disease. In its expected, the judge wrote that the request "is opposed to the Code of Medical Ethics, which states that the doctor has no right to deliberately commit suicide", and "the penal code" which condemns assistance and assisted suicide. But when it is in a legal impasse, what answers can be made to Sébire Chantal? To discuss: Gregory Motel, doctor at the laboratory of medical ethics and forensic and Claude Pigement, head PS health and social sectors. Euthanasia, what can be done to Sébire Chantal? A lively debate by Catherine Pottier (7'56 ")

HEALTH food

The report of the World Health Organization () 2008 2006, the most recent year for which WHO available. This new information showing a slowdown in the increase in the number of diagnoses of tuberculosis cases. From 2001 to 2005, the number of new TB cases detected has increased at an average annual rate of 6%, but only half of 3% from 2005 to 2006. For the World Health Organization (WHO), the reason for this slowdown is in some national programs that grew fast during the previous five years and who were unable to maintain the pace in 2006. Moreover, in most African countries, there has been no increase in case detection by national programmes. Other studies have also shown that many patients are treated in the private sector or by non-governmental organizations, religious or community, thus escaping detection by the public programs.

Treatment of heart disease: we can do better!

The congress medical Medec which takes place from 18 to 20 March, and whose AZ Health is a partner, is an opportunity to take stock of cardiovascular disease. Although in recent years there has been a reduction in deaths from these diseases, the results could be even better! As more progress is needed later ... Patients who do not take their proper treatment. "It is estimated that a patient on two arrested, or not following his treatment at the end of the first year of its establishment," says Professor Eric Bruckert., Head of department of endocrinology-métablisme (Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital -- Paris). Another major problem relates to the risk factors (especially in the occurrence of myocardial infarction): hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol levels ... Again room for improvement. Despite the war against tobacco, there is a "worrying increase in smoking among young people, especially among young women," says Professor Eric Bruckert. To better combat cardiovascular diseases, we must continue efforts against smoking, focusing on diet, and ensure better care for diabetes. On this last point, the role of GPs is paramount.

The maternal-fetal transmission of Chikungunya confirmed

Researchers at the South Reunion hospital group, the Institut Pasteur and INSERM have for the first time highlighted cases of maternal-fetal transmission of the virus Chikungunya. But according to them, newborns are infected and more likely to develop a severe form of the disease. For 22 months, three teams have conducted their research from 7500 pregnant women, of which 628 were infected during pregnancy. First conclusion, the likelihood that mothers transmit the virus to her unborn child increases with the approach of the term. While less than 3% of children born to an infected mother during pregnancy are infected, the rate of transmission… reached 50% when the infection of the mother is in the two days preceding the birth. They have also shown only once every two, the maternal-fetal transmission of Chikungunya causes a severe form of the disease. With particular encephalopathy resulting in a cerebral edema, possibly accompanied by bleeding complications. From March 2005 to December 2006, Chikungunya epidemic has affected 266,000 Réunionnais. In total, the disease has caused the deaths of 254 people.

Avian flu quarantine in a village near the Turkish Greece

village in north-western Turkey, near the border with Greece, after the discovery of avian flu virus in chicken, reported Tuesday the agency Anatolia. The virus has been detected in the village of Esetçe, in the region of Ipsala, near the Greek border, after the death of several chickens, "said Deputy préfete the region Aylin Kirci. "Everything is under control," said the manager who has, however, ordered a quarantine for the small village where the entry and exit of poultry have been banned. At least two confirmed cases of avian flu virus have been registered since the beginning of the year in Turkey. Bird flu has killed four children in January 2006 in a small town in eastern Turkey before they spread throughout more than one third of 81 Turkish provinces. Turkey was the first country outside the areas in the east and south-east Asia where people have died of H5N1 virus. According to figures from the World Health Organization, since 2003, H5N1 has already resulted in 235 deaths around the world. The WHO fears that the outbreak of bird flu from developing into a devastating pandemic due to a mutation of the H5N1 virus that would make it highly contagious from person to person.

Influenza: 2 million people were affected

The flu epidemic, which affected metropolitan France 2130000 persons between January 7 and March 9, has been completed, according to the weekly report of the network Sentinels of Inserm, published yesterday. Last week, the average rate of influenza was 103 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, below the epidemic threshold (125 cas/100.000 inhabitants). The median age of seized was 27 years (half of the cases below this age and the other over). The flu has affected fewer men than women (sex ratio m / f 0.97). The observed rate of hospitalization was also low (0.1%). The vaccine has proved effective in 72% among those under 65 and 57% among those over 65. This year the effectiveness of the vaccine can be considered as good, especially among those over 65, compared to recent seasons efficiencies available, according to the network. "The epidemic is now over" has touched on 9 weeks (from Jan. 7 to March 9, 2008), 2130000 people.

The salt producers lose their lawsuit against a researcher at the Inserm

The salt producers, who were pursuing a researcher at the Inserm for having accused of minimizing the risks of excess salt on health, have lost their Thursday defamation trial before the criminal court in Paris. The remarks incriminated by the CSF of France (CSF), the union which accounts for most of french salt producers, dating back to 2006. Pierre Meneton, a researcher at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, said at the time, in an interview with monthly TOC, "the lobby of salt producers and the food sector was very powerful" and "professionals désinformait the health and the media ". The article, titled "Food Scandal: salt, defect," was accompanied by a box of salt containing the words "salt kills", comparable to that found on cigarette packets. Also prosecuted the journalist who wrote the article, Peter Cattan, and the director of publication, Arnauld Champremier. Even before you can get to the merits, the 17th Chamber of TGI has cancelled its judgement in the case against Mr. Meneton, due to a procedural error. Considering that about alleged, "critical appraisal given by a scientist," was "not defamatory", it has also released MM. Champremier and Cattan. According to the court, "it's only the evocation of a general question on the excessive use of a natural product which, whatever its relevance, does not exceed the limits of freedom expression in a democratic society ". In addition, the judges are, "the title of the article and the endorsement made on the box of salt (...) are as criticism of a product", or "assessments, even excessive, affecting products, services or benefits are not included in the forecasts "French law on defamation. In addition, they stressed, if the researcher critical salt, "the product is not denigrated itself, the quality of french salt was, in particular, not questioned." At the hearing on January 31, M. Meneton recalled that France, excess salt was responsible for 100 deaths per day due to cardiovascular disease particularly favoured by hypertension. In court, he said "not surprised" Prosecution of CSF, salt producers "who stayed the American equivalent of Inserm" in 2003 and similar prosecutions have taken place in Britain in 2005. In both cases, he recalled, "they lost." According to the French Agency for food safety, the scientific community generally agrees that 4 grams of salt is enough to cover the daily needs of an adult. However, the French consume two to three times more. Called to the stand as witnesses, the former Director General of Health Joel Menard and the journalist Point Christophe Labbé had supported the researcher, that he had himself "suffered the full brunt of disinformation." "It has been more than 20 years that a lobby of salt because of misinformation about the link between excessive salt and deleterious effects on health (...) while dozens of scientific publications is to the contrary" he testified, accusing the lobby to produce "net figures" including salt hidden préincorporé in foods. "Shortcuts" which had risen against the former Executive Director of the Board, Bernard Moinier, but may produce no studies to support its arguments. © 2008 AFP. All rights of reproduction and distribution reserved. All information displayed on this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights held by AFP. Therefore, none of this information may be reproduced, modified, redistributed, translated, commercially exploited or used in any manner whatsoever without the prior.