In an interview published in Le Figaro newspaper, Douste-Blazy said the lower-house National Assembly would examine a draft law before year's end on "end-of-life" care that would define the legal options for the terminally ill.

"The law must allow doctors to offer a cancer patient, when it is certain that his condition cannot be reversed, the choice between one more chemotherapy treatment or palliative care and the morphine drip," the minister said.

"In the world of medicine, there is a moment when the truth becomes obvious, when we know that the patient only has a few days left," added Douste-Blazy, a cardiologist by training.

"I am going to ask the prime minister (Jean-Pierre Raffarin) to launch a sweeping nationwide debate, under conditions that have not yet been defined, on end-of-life care, so that everyone can express themselves," he said.

The debate in France over euthanasia came to the forefront in September 2003 following the death of Vincent Humbert, a 22-year-old fireman who was left blind, mute and paralyzed after a road accident in 2000.

His mother Marie, who with her son had campaigned in vain for his right to die, administered an overdose of sedatives to her son, who lapsed into a coma. His doctors switched off his life support system two days later.

A special parliamentary commission formed in the wake of the Humbert case to analyze the complex issue in June recommended that the law on "end-of-life" care be clarified, but did not go so far as to condone mercy killing.

Douste-Blazy told Le Figaro that it was "necessary to show that euthanasia should be avoided. We must draw an inviolable line between those for whom there is no longer any hope and those for whom we know there is still hope."

The minister said it was time to "put an end to the hypocrisy going on right now, which is unacceptable," noting that 150,000 care-giving machines a year are unplugged on doctors' orders outside the confines of any formal framework.

"We must clarify the law," he told Le Figaro, recommending that the medical code of ethics and public health regulations be altered with respect to end-of-life care.

"The law will establish the right to die in dignity. Respect for life is respect for death," Douste-Blazy said.