Frenchman in Vegetative State Can Be Taken Off Life Support, Court Rules

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/06/world/europe/frenchman-in-vegetative-state-can-be-taken-off-life-support-court-rules.html

Version 0 of 1.

PARIS — A 38-year-old Frenchman who is in a vegetative state after being paralyzed in a car accident seven years ago can legally be taken off life support, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Friday.

The case of Vincent Lambert, who is hospitalized in Reims, has torn his family apart and been at the center of debates on end-of-life decisions in France.

The court, based in Strasbourg, upheld a previous ruling by the Conseil d’État, France’s top administrative court, saying that ending Mr. Lambert’s artificial nutrition and hydration did not violate Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which deals with the right to life.

The court noted that Mr. Lambert’s condition was characterized last year as vegetative and that testimony submitted to the Conseil d’État “was sufficiently precise to establish what Vincent Lambert’s wishes had been.”

Mr. Lambert’s wife, Rachel, had maintained that her husband did not want to be kept alive in a vegetative state. “There is no relief, no joy to express,” Ms. Lambert told reporters in Strasbourg after the ruling. “We would like his will to be done.”

But Mr. Lambert’s parents, who do not believe that their son is in an end-of-life situation, expressed outrage. “This is a scandal,” Mr. Lambert’s mother, Viviane, told reporters on the steps of the courthouse. “We are here to take care of our son, and we will continue to do so.”

Euthanasia is illegal in France, but a 2005 law permits doctors to stop treatment under certain circumstances after consulting with families. The French Parliament is considering a bill that would not legalize euthanasia, but would give terminally ill patients the right to request heavy sedation until the onset of death.

In its ruling, the court also said that French legislation on end-of-life procedures was sufficiently clear and that in the absence of consensus among Council of Europe member states on the matter, “states must be afforded a margin of appreciation.”

The European Court of Human Rights was set up by the Council of Europe, an international organization with 47 member states that defends human rights in Europe and is separate from the European Union.