Life or death? France split on passive euthanasia ruling for vegetative fireman Vincent Lambert

by Guest Tue Jun 24, 2014 9:44 am

In the midst of an anguished national debate on the frontier between compassion and murder, 17 French judges face a life or death decision tomorrow.

The Conseil d’Etat, or council of state, must rule whether or not doctors should switch off the machines prolonging the life of a 39-year-old fireman, Vincent Lambert, who was left in a vegetative state by a motorcycle accident five years ago.
Mr Lambert’s case has divided his family and has become a cause célèbre for the radical Catholic right in France.
His doctors, his wife and most of his brothers and sisters believe that Mr Lambert has no proper life and no prospect of recovery. They believe that he should be allowed to die under the terms of a French law, passed in 2005, which allows “passive euthanasia”.
Meanwhile, Mr Lambert’s devout Catholic parents, one sister, the French government and a lower court believe that his life should be preserved. His mother and father have announced that, if the state watchdog rules against them, they will seek an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights to keep their son alive.
By an accident of the judicial timetable, the ruling falls in the midst of an extraordinary trial in the south of France in which a doctor is accused of poisoning seven patients who were close to an agonising death. Dr Nicolas Bonnemaison, 53, is accused of going beyond the terms of the 2005 “passive euthanasia” law by actively shortening the lives of terminally ill patients. He could face a prison sentence if found guilty.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/life-or-death-france-split-on-passive-euthanasia-ruling-for-vegetative-fireman-vincent-lambert-9557342.html