Health

For this edition, FRANCE 24’s François Picard speaks with Anne Reynaud, Board Member of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity. France's long awaited assisted dying legislation marks a profound shift in the country's approach to end-of-life care, but as Reynaud makes clear, the parliamentary vote is less the end of a debate than the beginning of a new ethical and legal era. Speaking from both personal experience and her professional role, Reynaud argues that the law represents meaningful progress while remaining more restrictive than the recommendations of France's Citizens' Convention. She highlights tensions between individual autonomy, medical safeguards, constitutional oversight and the complementary role of...

France on Wednesday moved closer to joining the ranks of countries that guarantee the right to assisted dying, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron. Macron had promised an assisted dying law when he was re-elected for a second term in 2022, in a change seen as one of the most important social reforms since France allowed same-sex marriage in 2012. If the country's highest constitutional authority approves the legislation, France will join the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada in legalising assisted dying. Keywords for this article ...

French lawmakers on July 15 adopted a bill ​that will create a legal right to assisted dying for adults with incurable illnesses, capping an intense ethical and political debate. The law would enable patients suffering from incurable and life-threatening illnesses to request lethal medication under strict medical supervision. The text will now be presented to the constitutional court, which has up to a month to approve it. Keywords for this article ]

France recorded at least 5,700 more deaths than usual during a historic heatwave last month, the public health agency said Wednesday, sharply increasing its estimates of the feared toll from record-shattering temperatures. FRANCE 24's James Vasina reports. Keywords for this article ]

The number of deaths in the current Ebola epidemic in the DRC has now topped 1,000, and the number of confirmed cases is around 2500. Experts are calling for more funding to help tackle the crisis as it becomes the fastest spreading outbreak ever recorded. Keywords for this article ]

The lengthy absence of Cameroon's long-serving President Paul Biya, who has been in Switzerland since early June, has reignited debate about government inaction, in a country where many crave change. Biya has made frequent trips to Geneva over the years and has faced waves of speculation and rumours regarding his health. FRANCE 24's Indira Ayuk tells us more from Yaoundé. Keywords for this article ]

Pulling his face away from an immersive 3D headset looking deep inside a patient's lung, doctor Sasha Stamenkovic recounted the final steps of an operation using robots to remove a tumour. "We've done some very, very intricate operating today," said the 60-year-old consultant thoracic surgeon. "We've saved a lot of lung, we've gone around some really, really small vessels and really small airways." He was addressing three surgeons from another English hospital observing Stamenkovic using the new da Vinci 5 robotic-assisted surgical system, made by US company Intuitive. Read more'Animal medicine': Therapy donkeys help patients at French psychiatric hospital The equipment will arrive in their operating theatre later this year, part of a drive to increase the use of robotics in keyhole surger...

The DR Congo is set to open its largest Ebola treatment facility. Construction is nearing completion as health authorities race to contain an outbreak that the World Health Organization has described as intensifying at an "exceptional" pace. As of July 30, the WHO reported 3,605 confirmed Ebola cases and 1,587 deaths in the DR Congo. Officials hope the expanded treatment capacity will strengthen response efforts and improve care for patients as the outbreak continues to spread. Keywords for this article ]