The French Parliament gave final approval yesterday to a bill legalising euthanasia and assisted suicide, making France one of the few European countries to have done so.

The 291-241 vote ended an unusual parliamentary stalemate between the National Assembly which passed the bill three times and the Senate which rejected it each time.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu invoked his constitutional power to give the lower house the final say on the matter while disregarding the consent of the Senate.

He also referred part of the bill to a court to review how its conscience clause would bear upon hospices opposed to ‘assisted dying’.

The end-of-life law covers both euthanasia, administered by a doctor or nurse, and assisted suicide, in which the patient self-administers a lethal substance.

Five conditions are required: A person must be an adult, a stable resident of France, diagnosed with a serious and incurable condition, in an advanced or terminal phase of that condition, and suffering in a way current treatment cannot relieve, while remaining able to express a free and informed decision. Self-administration is the default rule, with intervention by a nurse or doctor only when a patient is physically unable to act.