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Right to die
European court rules French doctors can turn off Vincent Lambert's life support
The man’s parents had been fighting to keep him on life support though his wife had said he would not want to be kept alive.
Updated 11am
EUROPE’S HUMAN RIGHTS court has upheld the decision of a French court to allow Vincent Lambert, whose has been in a vegetative state for a number of years, to be taken off life support.
The man, who is in his late 30s, was left with evere brain damage and quadriplegic after a road accident in 2008.
His wife, Rachel has said he would never have wanted to be kept alive and in January last year his doctors decided to stop the intravenous food and water keeping him alive. This is in line with France’s passive euthanasia law.
However, his deeply devout Catholic parents, half-brother and sister won an urgent court application to stop the plan and a high profile legal battle in France ensued.
The case was taken to the European Court of Human Rights last year and this morning it ruled that the decision to stop intravenous feeding did not violate European human rights laws.
- With reporting from AFP.
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