A severely disfigured French woman, found dead
this month after a court rejected her request for euthanasia, took a
lethal overdose of barbiturates, a prosecutor said on Thursday.
Former schoolteacher Chantal Sebire, 52, suffered from a rare and
incurable tumour which severely deformed her face and caused her to lose
the sense of smell, taste and finally her eyesight.
Her body was found at her home in Plombieres-les-Dijon on March 19, two
days after the high court in the eastern French city of Dijon decided
current French law did not allow her doctor to prescribe her lethal drugs.
“The tests conducted reveal the presence in the blood of a toxic
concentration of barbiturate, Pentobarbital,” prosecutor Jean-Pierre
Alacchi told reporters in Dijon.
“The concentration found is three times the lethal level for this
product,” he said, adding that investigators were working to establish
how Sebire obtained the drug, which is not delivered by French pharmacies.
The drug Pentobarbital is commonly used for animal euthanasia and can be
legally prescribed for assisted human suicide in Switzerland, Belgium
and the US state of Oregon.
[Further info on Pento. in the book ‘Final Exit’ – paperback or download]]
