Vincent Lambert's parents give up the legal battle | Society

Vincent Lambert's parents throw the sponge. After years of fierce judicial struggle to prevent by all possible means that his son was disconnected from the machines that kept him alive to give him a dignified death, as recommended by his doctors and with the support of his wife and guardian legal, they decided not to fight anymore. According to their announcement last Monday, almost a week after the doctors stopped taking care of their son, they now accept the "inevitable" death of the 42-year-old quadriplegic and vegetative-type nurse since then. more than a decade, of which the case is embodied. like little debate on the right to die in France.

"This time it's over (…) Vincent's death is already inevitable," said Lambert's parents and two of his brothers, all traditional Catholics and alone in this long and complex family a dignified death from the nurse, victim of a road accident in 2008, which left him in a state later declared uncollectible. For years, the Lamberts faced in court in France and Europe the wife of their son, Rachel Lambert, supported by the other six brothers of the nurse and one of his nephews, François Lambert, also fought for the disconnection of Vincent, declaring that it would have been his wish. The problem with this case that reopened the debate in France on the right to die with dignity is that Vincent Lambert never wrote – as most French did not do – a vital testament in which he specified his will.

The doctors disconnected Lambert last Tuesday from the machines that fed him and hydrated him artificially while subjecting him to deep sedation so that he did not suffer until he died, which should happen in the next few hours or days.

According to lawyers for Lambert's parents, Jean Paillot and Jérôme Triomphe, after the last legal attempts made last week – and that they were again rejected – "there are no more resources left". In addition, they said in another statement, "It's too late.Vincent is dying.The situation in which Dr. Sanchez set it is medically irreversible." Nevertheless, according to the TV channel France Info, the lawyers filed last Friday a complaint of willful homicide against the doctor who had disconnected Lambert machines last Tuesday. Sanchez was questioned this weekend by the judicial police.

Euthanasia is not legalized in France. But the possibility of ending the care of a person in a bad condition is provided for by the Leonetti law – on behalf of the deputy who drafted it – from 2005. This regulation establishes that medical care "should only not to be prolonged with unreasonable obstinacy "and that, at the moment when they seem" useless, disproportionate or with no other effect than the artificial maintenance of life, they may be suspended or not undertaken ". The regulation was updated in 2016 to include in this end-of-life process a "deep and continuous sedation" so that the patient does not suffer until his death occurs.

One of the problems with this regulation, according to its critics, is the vague character of the phrase "unreasonable obstinacy" which gives, they say, too much room for the interpretation of doctors and judges in the case, as in Lambert's, of divergence of principles. opinions within the family.

In addition, the fact that a hierarchy is not established to decide, if there is no biological will, which within the family has the main voice and that even if a patient left his will by In writing, the law does not require doctors to follow him in case of family conflict, denounced Monday the Monday the president of the Association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD), Jean-Luc Romero. "When something is written, it must be respected," he said in a statement to BFM television, in which he also affirmed the legalization of euthanasia, an option that, according to surveys, supports 96% of French people.

Speaking at the doors of the Reims Hospital, Vincent Lambert's nephew, François, one of the closest relatives who beat him the most for a decent death of his uncle, also called for "defined protocols" to improve the Leonetti law and avoid litigation processes as long as those in the Lambert case, in court since 2013. In addition, he criticized, the end process patient's life is too prolonged because it is up to the doctors that the patient dies in a matter of days or even up to two weeks. so that they can not be accused of committing euthanasia. "It would not be a bad thing if the law allowed for a faster procedure and a" unified "protocol across the country and focused on" protecting "the patient, he said.

Although the parents first summoned this Monday with their lawyers a concentration in Paris, the act was finally canceled. Like other members of the family, Lambert's parents visited their son in the afternoon.

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