Court orders life support to resume for Frenchman

REIMS: A Paris appeals court has ordered the resumption of life support for a longtime vegetative Frenchman from whom doctors had only hours earlier begun withdrawing treatment, in a wrenching case that has divided his family and country.

The court ordered authorities “to take all measures” to keep alive Vincent Lambert, a 42-year-old quadraplegic with severe brain damage, pending a review by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Lambert’s mother Viviane, 73, hailed the ruling as “a very big victory” in her struggle to maintain vital medical care for her son.

Earlier on Monday, doctors in France had halted the nutrition and hydration Lambert receives, in line with the wishes of his wife and other relatives.

Other courts this year had backed their assessment that nothing more could be done for Lambert, who has been kept alive for over a decade since a debilitating car accident in 2008.

Medical sources said Lambert could die within days or a week without the life support treatment he had been getting in Sebastopol Hospital in the French city of Reims.

The case has re-ignited a debate over France’s right-to-die laws, which allow so-called “passive” euthanasia for severely ill or injured patients with no chance of recovery.

Lambert’s parents, who are devout Catholics, have repeatedly launched court action to keep him alive, putting them at odds with Lambert’s wife and six siblings, who believe the most humane course is to let him die.