Live-stream suicide: man in France to broadcast death on social media after being refused euthanasia

Alan Cocq, 57, suffers from a rare condition and was denied a right-to-die request by the French President Emmanuel Macron

He now plans to stop eating, drinking or taking his medication - and live-stream his subsequent death on social media to draw attention to the issue

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Alain Cocq in the medical bed he has been confined to for years as a result of a degenerative disease that has no treatment. Photo: Reuters

Published: 9:06pm, 4 Sep 2020Updated: 9:05pm, 4 Sep 2020

A man in France who is suffering from an incurable condition said on Friday he plans to live-stream his own death on social media as he refuses to take food, drink or medicine after President Emmanuel Macron turned down his request for euthanasia.

Alain Cocq, who suffers from a rare condition where the walls of the arteries stick together, said he believed he had less than a week to live and would live-stream his death on Facebook from Saturday morning.

He had written to Macron asking to be given a substance that would allow him to die in peace but the president wrote back to him explaining this was not allowed under French law.

Cocq, 57, has used his plight to draw attention to the situation of terminally-ill patients in France who are unable to be allowed to die in line with their wishes.

Cocq looks at a tablet PC from his medical bed. Photo: Reuters

“Because I am not above the law, I am not able to comply with your request,” Macron said in a letter to Cocq, which the patient published on his Facebook page.

“I cannot ask anyone to go beyond our current legal framework … Your wish is to request active assistance in dying which is not currently permitted in our country,” Macron said.