DYING WISH Arunabha Sengupta The acquittal of the former doctor, Nicolas Bonnemaison, by a court ...

The acquittal of the former doctor, Nicolas Bonnemaison, by a court in the French town of Pau recently garnered great media attention. He was accused of having murdered seven terminally ill patients by giving them lethal injections. The jury, presumably made up of local people, dodged every uncomfortable question and concluded that Bonnemaison’s homicidal intent had not been established. Perhaps this revealed the veiled support in Catholic communities such as that in Pau for hastening death to end suffering. Such popular support has enabled the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and a handful of states...