Marie-Jeanne O’Toole likes scathing sentences. When asked what her life was made of, she replied, “It is not my life that is important, it is the end of my life. “
For several months, the Montluçonnais can read his reflections on the windows of his house: “My mother’s agony: three months ?; euthanasia of my dog: five minutes ”. Or more recently: “coronavirus, right ?; euthanasia, yes ”.
The example of the death of his mother
Marie-Jeanne is not a suicidal or depressed woman. But at 85, she seriously thinks about death. “It is my mother’s death that haunts me, I think about it every day. “
Alzheimer’s patient, amputated in both legs at the age of 90, Marie-Jeanne O’Toole’s mother suffered a torture. “At the end, I didn’t want to see her anymore, she didn’t recognize me anymore and she was suffering too much. “
How would Marie-Jeanne like to die? “Like my dog,” she replies. His animal was eaten away by metastases.
A veterinarian examined her and said that there was nothing we could do for her. He took his paw, looked for the vein, put it to sleep, and inoculated a lethal potion. In five minutes, it was over
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Marie-Jeanne is a member of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity. She plagues against François Hollande “who has not kept his promise of 2012”. Her son understands his positions but in no way wants to help him. “He tells me that I will have to manage and that he does not want to end up in prison. “
Montluçon: lost in the medical desert
Her son with Down’s syndrome died in his sleep
This Marne native, who has lived in Montluçon since 2011, has lost two of her three children. “My son died in September 2015. He had Down’s syndrome and lived with me. One day he fell ill while in a group stay. He was hospitalized almost dying. When I went to his department, he was on a drip, his hands tied to keep him from unplugging. The show was excruciating, ”she says.
The palliative care doctor organized a meeting of the medical team in the presence of the family. “We were told there was no hope. They decided, with our agreement, to put him to sleep and unplug him to let him go to sleep. I thanked them. “
On a painting, at her place: “No shea please”
In her living room, she left a message on a board: “No resuscitation please”. It’s to the emergency services. “I want to be left to die, that’s all.”
Marie-Jeanne is not sick, but moves with a walker and quickly breathless after fifty years of tobacco. “I am not suicidal but I want to be guaranteed that I can decide to die when I want to.” “
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Definition. Euthanasia is described as a practice (action or omission) aimed at causing the death of an individual suffering from an incurable disease which inflicts intolerable moral or physical suffering.
In France. Under French law, active euthanasia is prohibited. However, the law prevents the doctor from practicing “unreasonable obstinacy” in the care of patients at the end of life.
Criminal Law. In France, active euthanasia is qualified as premeditated assassination or poisoning, theoretically punishable by life imprisonment. Passive euthanasia is qualified as non-assistance to people in danger.
Advance directive. The advance directive is a written, dated and signed document by which a person states his wishes regarding the medical care he wants or does not want to receive in the event that he has become unconscious or is incapacitated to express their will.
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Guillaume Bellavoine
Photos: Florian Salesse
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