Euthanasia Legitimized in the Mercier Affair

The man was indicted at the time for murder and failure to provide assistance to a person in danger. In 2013, Jean Mercier – a member, along with his wife, of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD), a pressure group that lobbies for the legalization of euthanasia – got the accusation of murder dismissed, but was still prosecuted for failure to assist a person in danger, a crime for which the Correctional Tribunal of Saint-Etienne gave him a suspended sentence of one year in prison in 2015.

But one year later, in November of 2016, the judges of the Lyon Court of Appeals acquitted the eighty-year-old, arguing a point of law: the only accusation applicable to Jean Mercier was murder or accomplice to murder, an accusation that was dismissed in 2013.

In its verdict on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the verdict from the Lyon Court of Appeals, confirming the definitive acquittal of Jean Mercier.

Upon the publication of the court ruling, Jean-Luc Romero, president of the ADMD, rejoiced at this ultimate legal decision and called for a new law on the end of life, in other words, an authorization of euthanasia.

As for the general delegate of Alliance Vita, Tugdual Derville, he deplored the impact such a decision could have on opinions. Legitimizing euthanasia imperceptibly leads to its legalization.