Forty-two-year-old Vincent Lambert has been in a partially vegetative state since being injured in a car accident back in 2008.
Though the former nurse is fully capable of breathing on his own without the help of machines, the French courts have ruled that Lambert is to be euthanized through starvation, as he does require medical assistance for nutrition and fluids.
France’s top court made the decision last week, overturning a prior court order from May that forced doctors to keep Lambert alive just 12 hours after they shut off his life support against his wishes.
The patient’s parents intend to press murder charges if their son’s life support is halted.
France’s highest court has given a final ruling that doctors can stop feeding Vincent Lambert, who has been in a vegetative state since an accident 11 years ago. Lawyers for his parents threatened to press murder charges if his life support is halted.https://t.co/yBvnflCqPl
— Shoaib M Khan (@ShoaibMKhan) June 30, 2019
“In May, when learning about his planned death, he cried,” said his mother, Viviane.
She told Reuters that she went to United Nations Committee of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to make the case that her son is being discriminated against because the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities “prohibits depriving a person of food and drink.”
Viviane is supported by her husband and two of their children, while Lambert’s remaining six siblings and his wife Rachel would like to end his life.
