Chapter 6. French and Chinese regulatory approaches to end-of-life and euthanasia

For patients in critical or terminal situations, the approach to death is a situation that raises many ethical and legal issues of importance. Health professionals and families of the person at the end-of-life are obviously at the forefront of the concerns generated by these situations, all wishing to act in the best interest of the patient. Some States have regulated the various situations encountered on the ground in order to provide stakeholders with clear and appropriate procedures to ensure human dignity in practice by elaborating the rules of an end-of-life ethics aimed at supporting health professionals involved in carrying out certain acts while setting limits in respect of the persons concerned. What are the alternatives? Is euthanasia tolerable? What role for health professionals? And for the family? The content of the regulations differs according to countries, to cultural sensitivities and ethical and legal traditions, like the political will to regulate this topic. The regulatory experience of countries like France and China can be useful to other countries and serve as a basis for discussing the topic. Therefore, we analyze the current French framework and the situation in China in order to highlight main elements of ethical discussions, adopted positions and rules, eventual joint considerations, remaining issues and challenges in a comparative approach.