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European court orders France to keep paraplegic on life support

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ordered France to keep a man who has been in a vegetative state for six years on life support, overruling France’s highest court.

Vincent Lambert's nephew François Lambert talks to the press
Vincent Lambert's nephew François Lambert talks to the press Reuters/John Schults
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Earlier on Tuesday France’s State Council ruled in favour of Vincent Lambert’s wife, Rachel, his nephew and six of his eight brothers and sisters who want to cut off intravenous food and water supplies.

But the ECHR later ordered that decision to be suspended after an appeal by his parents, one brother and one sister.

Lambert, 38, has been paralysed and in a vegetative since a car accident in 2008 and his case has divided his family and caused intense debate in France.

His parents, Catholics who have opposed ending life support on religious grounds, said they were "infinitely relieved" at the European court's decision.

"Viviane, Vincent's mother, was in tears at the death sentence handed down by the State Council. Her tears were dried by the European court," one of their lawyers, Jerrome Triomphe, told the AFP news agency.

But Dr Eric Karliger, who heads the palliative care service at the hospital in Reims, eastern France, where Lambert is being treated, said the latest ruling "prolongs Vincent's plight" and will force the hospital to continue to provide the patient with treatment he doesn't want.

The European court could take between six months and three years to decide on the case.

"I hope that the case will move quickly because Vincent's suffering is constant and growing,” his nephew François Lambert commented.

Earlier he sais that ending life support was “the only humane solution”.

“There is no communication, maybe not even any consciousness,” he told RFI. “The only awareness would be of pain. He has regular infections that are treated with antibiotics. He is receiving pain medication 24 hours a day. He would have never wanted to live like this. He told his wife and his brother that – he made it clear to us that he did not want to be a vegetable.”

The State Council insisted that Vincent Lambert’s physical state could not be the only reason to withdraw life support – but the fact that he had clearly said that he would not want to be kept alive artificially weighed on the ruling.

This comes as another euthanasia case is underway in France – the trial of Nicolas Bonnemaison, a doctor accused of poisoning seven terminally ill patients, is expected to end later this week.
 

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