Towards a Second Death for Vincent Lambert

According to the Rheims court, the practitioner has “fully respected the court decisions,” and the facts alleged against him “exclude any intention to harm Vincent Lambert” (sic).

As if depriving a severely disabled patient of all food and hydration was not going to cause harm to his life?

Become one of the symbols of the debate on euthanasia in France, the 42-year-old former nurse, in a state of minimal consciousness since his traffic accident in 2008, died of hunger and thirst on July 11, 2019, in the palliative care department of the Rheims hospital center.

It was the young man’s parents—opposed to the cessation of basic artificial hydration and feeding care, to which every patient is entitled under natural law—who had sued the practitioner for “failure to assist a person in danger.”

At the height of the controversy, the French state had overruled the request made by the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) to suspend the decision to stop treatment.

Vincent Lambert’s parents then seized on the European Court of Human Rights and sent an open letter to the President of the Republic. With no further action taken, such as the final classification of the case, which weakens a little more the lives of the 1,500 patients in a state of minimal consciousness, identified in France in 2019.

A few days after the release of Dr. Sanchez, Vincent Lambert’s parents and their lawyers decided to appeal the decision, regretting in particular that the interim measures requested by the International Committee to Protect the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (IACHR) have not been respected.