Chantal Sébire

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Chantal Sébire (born January 28, 1955 , † March 19, 2008 ) was a teacher from Plombières-lès-Dijon near Dijon ( France ) who suffered from an esthesioneuroblastoma , an extremely rare tumor disease.

Sébire became known because her case revived the debate about dying with dignity in France , Europe and also in the USA . Sébire had written an open letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy , asking if with medical assistance he could die with dignity. Sébire applied to the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Dijon for a derogation, demanding the right for her doctor to “hand me a deadly substance that I take when I see fit”. The judges ruled on March 17, 2008 that Sébire's motion was contrary to French criminal law and the obligation of doctors to save lives. The French Prime Minister François Fillon then instructed the conservative UMP MP Jean Leonetti to review the relevant law (“Loi Leonetti”), which allows life support measures to be discontinued under strict conditions, but prohibits any type of active euthanasia . In 2005 Leonetti introduced the law named after him to the Assemblée Nationale .

Sébire died two days after the rejection of her application on March 19, 2008 around 7:30 p.m. in her apartment under initially unexplained circumstances. The Dijon Public Prosecutor then ordered an autopsy. She said that Sébire did not die of natural causes, but that she presumably killed herself with the help of strong barbiturates ( pentobarbital ). Prosecutor Alacchi announced further investigations to find out how and with whose help Sébire got into possession of the drug. "But I will not lose sight of the human aspect of this case," he added.

In early April 2008, 15 or 20 pieces of sealed evidence stored in Dijon hospital disappeared without a trace, and it was never possible to determine whether it was theft or sloppiness. The investigation into active euthanasia , which opened in June 2008, was closed in March 2009 with no result because the public prosecutor's office could not find out who had provided Sébire with the barbiturates (suspected of being her children, household help, family doctor, lawyer and laboratory staff) .

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sébire gained fame through a television report originally uploaded on YouTube by France 3 on February 26, 2008 (duration 7 minutes 10 seconds).
  2. ↑ Mr. President, help me die! . Report by Henning Lohse on Spiegel Online , March 17, 2008.
  3. ↑ Madame Sébire must not die . Spiegel Online, March 17, 2008.
  4. ↑ She didn't die the way she wanted to . Report by Henning Lohse on Spiegel Online, March 20, 2008.
  5. ^ Report on Soir 3 ( France 3's late evening news journal ) of March 19, 2008, with an interview by Marie Drucker with Jean-Luc Romero, President of the Association pour le droit de mourir dans la dignité
  6. ↑ Public prosecutor's office rules out natural death . Spiegel Online, March 17, 2008.
  7. ↑ Cancer patient died of an overdose of a sleeping pill . Report by Henning Lohse on Spiegel Online, March 27, 2008.
  8. ↑ La disparition de pièces à conviction relance l'enquête . Report by Geoffroy Tomasovitch and Marc Payet on leparisien.fr from June 25, 2008.
  9. ↑ La justice referme le dossier Chantal Sébire . Report by Laure Daussy on lefigaro.fr of March 23, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Sébire, Chantal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French advocate of euthanasia
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1955
DATE OF DEATH March 19, 2008
Place of death Plombières-lès-Dijon