Frenchman Alain Cocq, suffering from an incurable disease and who has decided to let himself die, was hospitalized in Dijon on Monday evening, reported his representative, who fears hospitalization under duress.
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“He was hospitalized last night after an intervention from the Samu. I think he was not aware, ”Sophie Medjeberg, vice-president of the Handi-Mais-Pas-Que association, told AFP on Tuesday, confirming information from RTL radio.
She fears that the patient, who has interrupted all treatment and food for four days, has been taken to hospital and treated against his will. What she could not confirm with the person concerned.
“I was told that he had challenged his right to refuse treatment before witnesses. I asked him to confirm it to me in person over the phone, but his words were not intelligible. Since then, I have been waiting for permission to go to his bedside, ”she told AFP.
Appointed as representative by Mr. Cocq to assist him in his end of life, Ms. Medjeberg had contacted the patient’s attending physician on Monday evening to ask him to provide comfort care after the caregiver accompanying Mr. Cocq had found that “he was delusional, had foam on his lips and blood in his stool”.
It was only after the fact that Ms. Medjeberg learned of her transfer to the Hospital Center.
“By virtue of the declaration of refusal of care, I was to be called immediately but this was not the case,” she regretted. “You can’t treat someone against their will. I am the person of confidence to warn and the hospital has been walking me since Monday evening ”.
In “terminal phase for 34 years”, as he says, Mr. Cocq suffers from a rare and very painful genetic disease which blocks his arteries.
Failing to have obtained from President Emmanuel Macron the authorization for an injection of barbiturates “on a compassionate basis” to shorten his suffering, the Dijonnais had decided to let himself die at home, ceasing all treatment, food and hydration from Friday evening .
He had wanted to broadcast his agony live on Facebook in an attempt to change the legislation on the end of life, but the social network blocked the video on Saturday morning.
The Claeys-Léonetti law on the end of life, adopted in 2016, only authorizes deep sedation for people whose vital prognosis is “in the short term”. What Mr. Cocq cannot prove.