French doctor who euthanized his patient cannot return to practice

Alex Schadenberg
Executive Director - Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

Nicolas Bonnemaison

The European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday that Nicolas Bonnemaison, a French doctor who was convicted in 2015 in the euthanasia death of a patient and acquitted in the alleged euthanasia deaths of six other patients, cannot be reinstated in his medical practice.

• Euthanasia doctor convicted in France.

According to an article by Sommer Brokaw for UPI news:

At issue was a decision by medical officials to strike Nicolas Bonnemaison from its medical register as a general practitioner following claims he caused the deaths of several terminally-ill patients years ago at a hospital in Bayonne, France. 

Bonnemaison challenged the decision after he was convicted in 2015 of causing the death of an 86-year-old woman -- but acquitted of six others -- and given a two-year suspended prison sentence. He argued he should be reinstated because the disciplinary divisions had not been independent, that the French Council of State wasn't impartial and because he wasn't given a fair trial. 

The court said in its ruling Thursday there's "no evidence to suggest that there had been any lack of impartiality" since the "judgment had been duly reasoned."

Euthanasia is illegal in France. In January 2011 the French Senate defeated a euthanasia bill by 170 to 142.