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Euthanasia doctor convicted
16/03/2007 10:11 - (SA)
Perigueux - A French court handed down a one-year suspended jail sentence on Thursday to a doctor who prescribed a fatal overdose to a terminally ill
cancer patient.
At the end of a trial that fuelled debate in France over
rulings on helping people to die, the court found Laurence
Tramois, 35, guilty of poisoning but cleared nurse Chantal
Chanel, 40, who administered the fatal dose.
The court ruled that Tramois' conviction should not be kept
on file, a decision that ensures she can continue to practice
medicine. The sentence was the lowest possible under French law.
The two women were accused of poisoning Paulette Druais with
a fatal dose of potassium chloride in 2003 when she was
suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer.
They admitted the action in a small, rural hospital in
southern France, but said they acted to end the suffering of the
65-year-old patient who had no hope of recovery.
Druais's family backed their decision but hospital managers
took them to court. They had risked up to 30 years in jail.
The case sparked controversy in France, where more than
2 000 doctors and nurses signed a petition last week saying they
had themselves performed similar actions and appealing for a
change in the law to allow active euthanasia.
Active euthanasia is illegal in France but a 2005 law allows
doctors to withhold treatment with a patient's consent in
certain circumstances.
- Reuters
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