New twist in the Vincent Lambert case: the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation recommends overturning the decision of May 20 which ordered the resumption of treatment to keep this quadriplegic patient alive in a vegetative state for 11 years. The Court will debate this opinion on Monday June 24.
One month after the “surprise” judgment of the Paris Court of Appeal which, on May 20, ordered the resumption of treatment aimed at keeping Vincent Lambert alive, the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation, François Molins, has just, according to AFP, issued an opinion in which he recommends overturning this decision.
An opinion that does not address the substantive issues
This opinion is not based on substantive issues raised by each of the parties since the beginning of this long procedure which pits Vincent Lambert’s wife against the parents of this quadriplegic patient in a vegetative state.
It comes after appeals filed by the State, the Ministry of Health and the Reims University Hospital following the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal of May 20 which had ordered the resumption of care while food and the hydration of Vincent Lambert had been interrupted the same morning, in accordance with a decision of the Council of State of April 2019 validated by the European Court of Human Rights.
The Paris Court of Appeal responded to a request from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, an offshoot of the UN.
The notion of “assault” contested
The fact that the demands of this UN committee are not binding is one of the arguments on which François Molins relies to issue this opinion recommending the quashing of the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal. The opinion of the Attorney General of the Court of Cassation also challenges the notions of “assault” and infringement of “individual freedom” on which the Court of Appeal relied to declare itself competent to judge the claim of resumption of care supported by the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
A possible new cessation of treatment
It is this jurisdiction of the Paris Court of Appeal that the opinion of the prosecutor François Molins rejects. A question of form which could lead, if the Court of Cassation follows this opinion, to a new cessation of treatment for Vincent Lambert.
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