French man dies after 11 years in coma amid a legal battle
PARIS — A French man who was in a vegetative state for 11 years while his wife and parents disagreed over his continued medical care died Thursday, and a prosecutor quickly ordered an autopsy and an investigation.
Vincent Lambert, 42, died in a hospital east of Paris nine days after doctors stopped providing artificial feeding and hydration and following years of contrary court rulings over whether medical interventions should prolong his life.
A 2008 car crash left Lambert in a vegetative state, and he needed to receive nutrition to sustain him by artificial means. Lambert’s parents, Pierre and Viviene, fought relentlessly to keep their son alive.
The traditionalist Catholic couple filed a legal complaint for attempted murder on July 4 to prevent actions that would lead to his death. Their lawyers had said a homicide complaint would be filed when he died.
Lambert’s treatment was suspended after France’s highest court overturned a Paris court’s decision to resume the artificial feeding so a United Nations committee on the rights of people with disabilities could examine the case.
Lambert’s wife, Rachel, had argued he should be allowed to die and supported withholding artificial nutrition. A nephew who emerged as the spokesman for the side of the family with that view, Francois Lambert, expressed relief Thursday, saying “it’s the rational that takes over.”
“We’ve been ready for years,” he said.
The case has drawn attention around Europe.
The Vatican quickly reacted, saying it “learned with sorrow of the death of Vincent Lambert.”
The European Court of Human Rights and the Council of State, France’s top administrative body, had upheld the doctors’ earlier decision to stop Lambert’s life support, with the court finding the move didn’t violate Lambert’s rights.