Vincent Lambert in hospital bed after severe car accident left him paralysed .
The Vincent Lambert saga concluded this morning, as the European Court of Human Rights ruled that removing artificial life support to a person in a vegetative state does not breach article 2 clause on the right to life in the European Convention of human Rights.
Vincent Lambert, a French psychiatrist, was severely injured, immobilised and left quadriplegic after a car accident in 2008.
He is currently in a vegetative state, and is wholly dependent on the artificial life support provided to him at a hospital in Reims, France.
Two attempts were made to take him of the assisted care in 2013 and 2014, after carers and family members noticed him rejecting food and took this to be a sign that he no longer wanted to live.
Rachel Lambert after court ruling agrees that intravenous methods may be stopped , concluding an intense legal battle with Vincent’s parents.
His wife Rachel Lambert, who is also a psychiatrist, proposed removing the intravenous life source with the backing of six of his eight siblings, stating: “He would have never wanted to have been kept alive … [it’s] unbearable”.
France’s Supreme Administrative court backed the proposition to remove artificial support last June, however his devout Roman Catholic parents rejected the idea, stating that ‘they are condemning my son”.
Viviane Lambert, holding a photo of son Vincent, pressurised European Courts to intervene.
Lambert’s mother, Viviane, forced the case into the European courts in Strasbourg, which enabled her son to live longer whilst they made their decision.
The final conclusion, reached this morning, means that Lambert will be taken off intravenous drugs and allowed to pass away, however it is yet to be confirmed when this will happen.
Mark Bhagwandin, from Life charity, disagrees with the court’s decision, as he told Jenniah Brown in an exclusive interview.
Euthanasia is currently illegal in France, however the March vote for the introduction of terminal sedation resulted in an overwhelming 436-34 majority in favour. This vote has galvanised opposition from euthanasia critics.
Jean Leonetti, the MP who proposed this new phenomenon, described terminal sedation as a “deep sleep before death to avoid suffering.”
The majority of public backlash targets this opinion, with some suggesting that terminal sedation is covert “backdoor euthanasia”.
The rigid opinion that France has had on euthanasia in the past seems under threat, and with terminal sedation being voted for in March, and the final episode of the Lambert case being concluded this morning, France may be reaching a more liberal stance on patient autonomy and euthanasia.