France shows it can deal with death

Britain would do well to follow the French example and pay people who take time off to look after a dying relative or partner

Andrew Brown
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 February 2010 10.00 GMT

The French state is not famous for sensitivity and tact, but this morning the parliament voted unanimously for a remarkably imaginative measure to make dying easier there. People who take time off to look after a relative or partner close to death will be entitled to an payment of €50 (£44) a day for 21 days. At a time when English politicians argue about a death tax, the French have got on and established a subsidy for the dying.

It's not a huge sum of money. I don't think that's the point. There are incidental expenses and inconveniences when someone is dying but they are seldom immense. They matter far less than the grief and exhaustion which attend almost every deathbed. What the payment does is to register the state's belief that to tend a dying friend or relative is a worthwhile activity, which should be honoured and not needlessly impeded.