-1730888646.jpg "Kidney donation while alive: “It was an act of love that I did for my sister”")
Justice has ruled: the Reims University Hospital will be able to initiate a new procedure for stopping care for Vincent Lambert, in a vegetative state after a car accident.
Will the procedure for stopping care for Vincent Lambert resume? The Administrative Court of Appeal of Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ruled on June 16. His judgment provokes a new reversal in a very sensitive issue. Since January 2014, the relatives of this man, in a vegetative state since a road accident, have been tearing each other apart over whether his artificial diet and hydration will be maintained or not. A new collegial procedure could be initiated by Daniela Simon, current doctor of the forties at the University Hospital of Reims.
The doctor’s position validated
The decision to stop the care now alive Vincent Lambert was taken by a health professional other than Daniela Simon. As such, it “only engaged the doctor who took it” for the Court. “The new doctor in charge of Mr. Vincent Lambert is not bound by the decision of his predecessor,” she ruled.
This conclusion has a double significance for the medical team in charge of the care of the forties. First, the Court validates the decision not to continue the first procedure for interrupting artificial nutrition and hydration. For this, it is based on the principle of professional independence. Consequently, the judges underline the legitimacy of a new collegial procedure.
The insufficient arguments of the CHU
The administrative court of appeal is however opposed to the University Hospital of Reims on a major point. In July 2015, the establishment decided to suspend the procedure. At issue: the repeated conflicts between relatives of Vincent Lambert. “The conditions of serenity and security necessary for the continuation of the procedure, both for Mr. Vincent Lambert and for the nursing team, are not met”, then advances the hospital. Threats have been issued against the patient in a vegetative state, he adds.
Insufficient arguments, for the Court of Nancy: these “possible threats” do not represent a sufficient legal means to justify an indefinite stopping of the procedure. Waiting for the climate to be calmer is not a valid argument either, in the eyes of the judges. In fact, the situation has been tense for two and a half years now.
The Reims University Hospital is therefore ordered to give the means to initiate a new collegial procedure to Daniela Simon and her team. The conclusion of this is however left to the discretion of the health professionals of the establishment.
.
