ECHR Backs France In Right To Die Case
The European Court of Human Rights has upheld the decision of a court in France to allow a paralysed man to be taken off life support.
Vincent Lambert, 39, has been in a coma for seven years after a motorcycle accident left him tetraplegic.
His family have been split over whether he should be kept alive.
The case was taken to the European court last year after France’s highest court had ruled in favour of ending his life support.
It sparked fierce debate in France where euthanasia is illegal, although doctors can withdraw care under a 2005 passive euthanasia law.
The court in Strasbourg ruled on Friday that the decision to stop intravenously feeding Mr Lambert did not violate European rights laws.
‘No relief, no joy’
Mr Lambert has been kept alive with the use of intravenous food and water at a hospital in Reims in north-eastern France.
His wife Rachel and some of his brothers and sisters had agreed with doctors’ recommendation that his life should be ended as there was no hope of recovery.
The doctors said Mr Lambert had shown signs last year of resisting treatment, and Rachel Lambert said her husband would “never have wanted to be kept in this state”.
“There’s no relief, no joy to express. We’d just like his will to be done,” she said after the ruling.
But Mr Lambert’s parents – who are said to be devout Roman Catholics – and other siblings say he has shown signs of progress and believe he just needs better care.
“They are trying to make us say we don’t want him to go, but it is not at all the case, we don’t want him to be snuffed out,” his mother Viviane said earlier this year.
They took the case to Strasbourg after France’s highest court ruled last year in favour of ending Mr Lambert’s life support.
And their lawyer hinted before the ruling that they would fight on if it went against them.
Jean Paillot said the decision to stop life support “was taken by a doctor and can only be carried out by this doctor”, who is no longer in charge of Vincent Lambert’s care. He said they would seek a new medical decision through the French courts.
Same Difference 
i remember years ago,when i was nursing. as a young pupil nurse (talking of around 50yrs ago here.) there was a young man, 21 yr old road accident victim,had been in a coma 2 yrs by the time i went to work on that ward. he too was being fed by intravenous drip…i was appalled when the decision was made to stop feeding him. and let him die naturally…. after reading this,i am wondering now…was it legal or illegal to do that back then? i have no idea ill admit.
i am amazed at how often your blog(and others too at times) makes me reach back into my past when i read of similar incidents to some i have seen/heard over the years.
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It is one thing to have this right to die in such extreme circumstances, but the state cannot be given a carte blanche for all by law.
The state cannot be trusted, when they incite such hatred of the elderly, disabled, chronic sick of all ages.
And coma victims can hear you and there might be ways to communicate using computers in the near future.
Or even a means to wake up a coma patient.
I passed a coma patient many years ago, and nearly tripped over a metal bucket when distracted by someone calling my name to talk to me, when visiting my mother in hospital.
The loud bang of the bucket hitting the wall, made the coma patient do the instinct of a recoil move a bit in reaction and make a breath noise with her mouth as you would expect upon being startled.
MRI scans show that the same parts of the brain are used to go through the thought of imagining playing a game of tennis, as used by a person actually playing a game of tennis.
Somewhere in passing the telly, I watched an MRI scan in Europe where it could be seen the 6 seconds it takes the brain to decide to move your right or left hand, so the MRI scanner could predict which hand would move before it was done.
With all this focus on euthanasia, instead of using such research to get together in their various forms, to wake up a coma patient, is the danger of the right to die.
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