French court ruling prevents death by dehydration for disabled man.

By Alex Schadenberg
International Chair, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition

A court in France ruled against the withdrawal of food and water from Vincent Lambert, a tetraplegic patient who has been in a state of minimal consciousness in hospital for five years, following a car accident.

Parents of Vincent Lambert

Lambert was incapacitated in a car accident five years ago, but the decision to cut his intravenous food and water supply has divided his family. Lambert's doctors and wife wanted to end the supply and allow Lambert to die, but his parents, who are vehemently opposed to ending his life, took his case to court.

The ruling goes against the wish of his wife and instead favours the parents’ desire to keep their son alive.
The wife and parents of Lambert have long been in opposition over the issue and in recent months his brothers and sisters have become involved on opposing sides.

The Lambert case is very similar to the Terri Schiavo case in 2005 in Florida, except that in the Schiavo case the court sided with Schiavo's estranged husband rather than her parents and siblings, who wished to care for her.

The French court has prevented Lambert from dying a horrific death by dehydration.

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Imagine the pain of knowing you are being dehydrated to death.

Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto dehydrating children with disabilities to death.