National Post (National Edition)
Former nurse at centre of right-to-die debates
Kept alive since brain injury in 2008 accident
PARIS • Vincent Lambert, a former nurse who had been in a vegetative state for over a decade, died on Thursday in Reims, France, after an intense family dispute over his fate that led to years of legal battles and put him at the centre of right-to-die debates. He was 42.
His death was confirmed by Jean Paillot, a lawyer for his parents. Doctors had stopped artificially feeding and hydrating Lambert this month after a final court ruling in his case, and placed him under heavy sedation.
Lambert had been kept alive since suffering severe brain damage in a road accident in 2008. He had not left written instructions on his end-of-life wishes.
His wife, Rachel Lambert, said that he had clearly stated that he would not wish to live in a vegetative state. His parents argued that ending his life support amounted to the murder of a disabled person. Siblings and other family members took different sides in the dispute.
“It is a real relief for us,” said François Lambert, Vincent Lambert’s nephew, who for years advocated switching off his uncle’s life support. “Vincent had been the victim of irrational medicine for years. It had to stop.”
Vincent Lambert’s parents have not commented on their son’s death, but their lawyer, Paillot, said it was “a deadly day for our country.”
“Vincent Lambert was killed by his own doctor because he was disabled,” Paillot said.
Euthanasia and assisted suicide are illegal in France. But the law allows patients who are terminally ill or injured with no chance of recovery to decide to stop treatments if the measures “appear useless, disproportionate” or if they seem to have no other effect than “artificially maintaining life.”
If a patient is no longer able to express a decision, as was Lambert’s case, doctors may stop treatment in consultation with family members.
Lambert’s parents, observant Roman Catholics who gained the support of anti-euthanasia activists, argued that the law should not apply in this case because their son was not terminally ill and was a disabled person in need of protection. Catholic doctrine forbids euthanasia.
But Rachel Lambert, who was made Vincent Lambert’s legal guardian in 2016, pointed to multiple medical assessments that found her husband to be in an irreversible vegetative state, and to court rulings that said artificially feeding and hydrating him to keep him alive constituted “unreasonable obstinacy” as defined by French law.
A vegetative state can be defined as a condition that occurs when the part of the brain that controls thought and behaviour no longer works, but vital functions like the sleep cycle, body temperature control and breathing persist.
People in a vegetative state can sometimes open their eyes and have basic reflexes, but they do not have a meaningful response to stimulation or display signs of experiencing emotions.
In an interview with the BFM TV news channel this month about her husband’s case, Rachel Lambert said that she wanted to “finally see him a free man,” and expressed discomfort with the attention his case had drawn.
“It’s a medical decision, which should stay within the private life of our family,” she said. “Vincent should not be a standard-bearer, in one way or another. He should just be seen as a unique person.”
But Viviane Lambert, Vincent Lambert’s mother, had taken his case to the United Nations in hopes of putting diplomatic pressure on France to keep his life support on. Lambert’s parents had referred his case to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, a United Nations-affiliated body.
“Without your intercession, my son, Vincent Lambert, will be euthanized by a doctor because of his cerebral disability,” she said this month in Geneva before the UN Human Rights Council. “He is in a state of minimal consciousness, but he is not a vegetable.”
The Roman Catholic Church had made several appeals for Vincent Lambert to be kept on life support. The Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life tweeted Thursday morning: “The death of #VincentLambert and his story are a defeat for our humanity.”
Vincent Lambert’s life support was initially withdrawn in May, but the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had asked the French authorities to stay any decision, and a surprise court ruling in favour of Lambert’s parents had bolstered that request. A higher court later struck that ruling down, agreeing with the French state that the committee’s request was not legally binding.