European court upholds decision to let man die
Print Edition
EUROPE’S human rights court yesterday backed the decision of a French court to allow a man in a vegetative state to be taken off life support, in a ruling that could become a benchmark on the continent.
The fate of Vincent Lambert, 38, who was left a quadriplegic with severe brain damage after a 2008 road accident, has torn apart his family in a judicial tug-of-war over his right to die.
His parents and two siblings had appealed to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights in a bid to stop doctors from withdrawing intravenous feeding after exhausting their legal options in France.
But the court voted 12 to five that a French court decision, which said Lambert should be allowed to die, did not violate European rights laws.
“It is a scandal, our son has been sentenced to death,” said his mother Viviane Lambert, who wiped away tears as the ruling was handed down.
“We will stay by Vincent’s side and keep on fighting.”
The case pitted Lambert’s mother against his wife who insists her husband — a former psychiatric nurse — would never have wanted to be kept alive artificially.
While the court ruled in her favor, wife Rachel said she was “devastated” by the decision.
“There is no relief or joy to express,” she said, adding “we want his wishes to be fulfilled.”
The legal drama began in January last year, when Lambert’s doctors, backed by his wife and six of his eight siblings, decided to stop the intravenous food and water keeping him alive in line with a 2005 passive euthanasia law in France.
His Catholic parents, sister and half-brother won a court application to stop the plan, calling it “akin to torture.”
In an appeal, the French supreme administrative court, or State Council, ordered three doctors to draw up a report on Lambert’s condition and last June ruled that withdrawing care from a person with no hope of recovery was lawful.
Lambert’s parents then took the case to Europe’s rights court, which ordered France to keep him alive while it decided whether the State Council’s decision was in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.
“The court concludes that the case was the object of a thorough investigation where all points of view were expressed and all aspects weighed long and hard” read the ruling from the Strasbourg court.
Vincent’s parents now plan to seek a new medical decision as the doctor who was behind the initial decision to stop intravenous feeding is no longer employed at the medical unit where their son is being kept.
Medical experts have said Lambert is in an irreversible vegetative state, but Viviane believes her son is showing signs of progress, and wants him moved to a new medical facility.
Bernard Jeanblanc, the head doctor at the Strasbourg clinic where Lambert’s parents want him moved, said the patient was “not in a vegetative state” but had a degree of consciousness which enabled him to interact with his environment.
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