A step that could be decisive in the Vincent Lambert affair. The administrative court of Châlons-en-Champagne ordered Friday April 20 a new medical expertise to determine “the clinical picture” of the patient and rule “definitively” on a possible cessation of treatment.
In 2008 Vincent Lambert, 41, was the victim of a traffic accident. He has since been hospitalized in a vegetative state. On April 9, the Reims University Hospital Center (CHU) decided to stop the patient’s artificial feeding and hydration. Dr Sanchez speaks of “therapeutic relentlessness” and “unreasonable obstinacy” made to a patient who has become “a suffering body”.
“Disabled but alive” according to his mother
Vincent Lambert’s parents, as well as other members of his family retaliated by filing an interim liberty appeal to prohibit this judgment. Catholics strongly opposed to passive euthanasia, they are convinced that it can be re-educated. They ensure that he is able to swallow, communicate with his relatives and emit vocalizations, relying on videos communicated to the court. For his mother, Vincent Lambert is “disabled but alive”, as she writes in an open letter to Emmanuel Macron.
They welcome this new expertise as a victory. It will be carried out by a college of three doctors who will have to decide “independently and collegially” on the patient’s condition. They have a period of one month “from the constitution of the college” to deliver their conclusions. The court will then decide either for the cessation of care or the transfer of Vincent Lambert to another specialized unit.
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Vincent Lambert case: the European Court of Human Rights validates the cessation of care
Vincent Lambert: new complaint from parents against the University Hospital of Reims
The Council of State validates the cessation of care for Inès, against the advice of the parents
