The debate on dignified death is relaunched: Vincent Lambert died after 11 years in a vegetative state

Vincent Lambert, the French tetraplegic who was in a vegetative state since 2008, died Thursday. The case of this man – who worked as a nurse until a car accident – has been at the center of various debates on a dignified life.

The doctors had stopped her artificial nutrition and hydration on July 2, while she was being treated with painkillers to not feel pain. This aspect has always been the subject of controversy and differing opinions, their parents, Catholic traditionalists, being opposed to the withdrawal of help, which they considered as the 39; euthanasia. For them, their son was not terminally ill.

A large part of the family felt the opposite. In fact, Rachel Lambert, Vincent's wife, has gone to court to help her give the father of her children a dignified death.

The medical team at the Reims hospital led by Dr. Vincent Sanchez initiated the end-of-life protocol on July 2, four days after the reopening of the Supreme Court by overturning a previous sentence of the Court of Appeal and Close the ability to deposit new resources.

It was the third time that they did it, since the parents had managed to stop them with urgent proceedings in court.

What happens to French legislation?

Euthanasia is not legal in France, but since 2016, she is allowed to apply a "deep and continuous sedation" to a patient in an irreversible state.

resigning

Vicent's parents acknowledged Monday his inevitable death and announced that they would not present any new legal recourse to try to resume their treatment.

When they learned of the death of the 42-year-old man, they declared that it was "a state crime", in which his son had been "sentenced for disability".

More than a decade of struggle

Vicent's wife's attorney stated that his client had "broken down" for so many years of judicial proceedings for "therapeutic cruelty" and for attempting to "respect" the will of his husband.