Royal backs euthanasia as doctor and nurse go on trial for ‘poisoning’

SOCIALIST French presidential candidate Segolene Royal will push for a law to allow euthanasia under certain conditions if she is elected this spring, her party said yesterday.

Socialist Party leader Francois Hollande said a law on euthanasia would be discussed with doctors and put on the table.

“We want to create a law in this area, with precaution and respect, so that the fundamental right to live and die in dignity can be ... established,” Hollande told a news conference.

Hollande is also Royal’s partner and the father of her four children.

Last week, 2,000 doctors and other medical personnel signed a petition saying they had helped patients die, and urging the decriminalisation of euthanasia.

On Monday, a doctor and nurse went on trial in the city of Perigueux, accused of poisoning a terminally ill cancer patient.

The first round of France’s election is scheduled for April 22, with a runoff set for May 6 if there is no clear winner. Polls indicate the leading candidate is conservative Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy also suggested he might be in favour of a law permitting euthanasia, saying recently: “Faced with suffering, we can’t just sit there doing nothing.”

Speculation over which candidate will receive President Jacques Chirac’s backing has been growing since he announced he would not seek a third term.

Sarkozy will most likely win Chirac’s nod, though the pair fell out years ago, and prime minister Dominique de Villepin has already offered his support.

Chirac’s backing could be a mixed blessing, however, since Sarkozy has based his campaign on pledges to break with the past.

Sarkozy insisted in a radio interview yesterday that he was not “anyone’s heir,” and said he would do things differently if elected president.

“I wasn’t handed anything,” he said. “What do you mean by spiritual father? I have a father and it’s not Jacques Chirac.”