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European court to decide whether quadriplegic man should be allowed die

The case that has torn his family apart and sparked a fierce euthanasia debate in France.

EUROPE’S HUMAN RIGHTS court has begun hearing arguments on whether a man in a vegetative state should be taken off life support, in a case that has torn his family apart and ignited a fierce euthanasia debate in France.

Vincent Lambert, 38, who was left severely brain damaged and quadriplegic as a result of a 2008 road accident, has for months been at the centre of a judicial tug-of-war over his right to die.

And after fighting it out in French courts, his family is hoping that Europe’s rights laws will shed light on whether he should be kept alive, or allowed to die.

The legal drama began in January 2014 when Lambert’s doctors, backed by his wife and six of his eight siblings, decided to cut off the intravenous food and water keeping him alive in line with a 2005 passive euthanasia law in France which allows treatment maintaining life to be withheld.

His 33-year-old wife, Rachel, who like him is a psychiatric nurse, said he would never have wanted to be kept alive artificially, while doctors said that their patient was “suffering.”

However, his deeply religious Catholic parents, half-brother and sister won an urgent court application to stop the plan.

In an appeal, the French supreme administrative court, known as the State Council, ordered three doctors to draw up a report on Lambert’s condition and in June ruled that the decision to withdraw care from a man with no hope of recovery was lawful.

Lambert’s parents then took the case to the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which ordered France to keep Lambert alive while they decided whether the State Council’s decision was in line with the European Convention on Human Rights.

“Not letting Vincent Lambert go would be a lack of respect,” a former doctor at the hospital where he is being kept, Eric Kariger, said on Tuesday.

Lambert’s wife Rachel told AFP in an earlier interview that her husband would “never have wanted to be kept in this state.”

Keeping him alive artificially, it is unbearable compared to the man he was.

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

‘Stop this madness’ 

But to his parents, stopping treatment would be tantamount to euthanasia.

“I hope the ECHR will be able to stop this madness. Vincent is not at the end of his life, he is handicapped,” his mother Viviane Lambert told AFP when she arrived in Strasbourg on Tuesday night.

“They are trying to make us say we don’t want him to go, but it is not at all the case, we don’t want him to be snuffed out,” said the staunch Catholic who insists her faith has nothing to do with her efforts to keep her son alive.

The lawyer for Lambert’s parents, Jean Paillot, argues that the patient’s condition would “improve if he was receiving better care.”

He will argue in Strasbourg that stopping intravenous nourishment would be an “inhumane and degrading” violation of Lambert’s right to life.

The ECHR is expected to take up to two months to deliver its judgement in the case, one of several stirring passions among supporters and opponents of euthanasia.

Euthanasia is illegal in France but Francois Hollande pledged in his 2012 presidential campaign to look into the issue.

In December lawmakers unveiled proposals for a bill that would allow doctors to place terminally-ill patients into a deep sleep until they died.

Critics slammed the move as masking euthanasia as sedation, while the pro-euthanasia camp was disappointed the proposal steered clear of assisted suicide, a practice that allows a doctor to provide patients with all the necessary lethal substances to end their life but lets them carry out the final act.

Lawmakers are due to debate the issue this month.

© AFP, 2015

Read: The interesting bits you need to read from the David Drumm ruling

Read: These are the countries hosting the world’s refugees

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    Mute Mill Lane
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:22 PM

    0 out of 10.

    I thought they were election posters.

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    Mute thomas patrick
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:53 PM

    @Mill Lane: always some clown who turns everything back to the oul politicians “gag”

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    Mute devils avacado
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    Jan 26th 2020, 1:46 AM

    @thomas patrick: ahh come on Tom,, I’m a huge SC-FI fan,, but that was a good gag….:)

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    Mute Dave Stewart
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    Jan 26th 2020, 3:06 AM

    @Mill Lane: me too

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    Mute joanne healy
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:10 PM

    10/10 love love love Star Trek.

    129
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    Mute Arya
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:00 PM

    @joanne healy: Kardashians? Hahahahha. They are aliens? I knew it!

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    Mute Mirabelle Stonegate
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    Jan 26th 2020, 9:38 AM

    @Arya: I have only ever watched keeping up with the Kardashians once, for about 5 minutes. I remember thinking someone had screwed up the spelling of cardassian, but was excited to think they might have their own spin off , as I enjoyed garak as a character. Yeah, I was very very disappointed when I learned the truth.

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    Mute Burn_the_Witch
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:16 PM

    Never watched it. Got 7/10. Pretty happy with that.

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    Mute dstaffx
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:31 PM

    @Burn_the_Witch: the force is strong in this one ( I did that on purpose ha ha ha ha)

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    Mute Kevin Maughan
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    Jan 26th 2020, 10:34 AM

    @Burn_the_Witch: Tempted now?! Ah go on!

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    Mute The Risen
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:46 PM

    9 out of 10, ok for a Trekkie I guess. Oh, and Star Trek Picard episode one is outstanding!

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    Mute Matthew Gorman
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    Jan 26th 2020, 1:24 PM

    @The Risen: agreed saw it last night.

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    Mute Mick McGuinness
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:17 PM

    I got 50/50 couldn’t ask a friend lol, hope Star Trek Picard will be on TV here soon.

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    Mute Derek
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:52 PM

    @Mick McGuinness: watched it earlier, story has real potential and has plenty references for fans and some cool guest appeances. Stewart’s a class act. Definitely going on my weekly viewing list.

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    Mute Ronan Fahy
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:42 PM

    @Mick McGuinness: amazon prime only I’m afraid. Discovery season 1 only appeared on channel 4 about 3 years after first airing so I wouldnt wait that long

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    Mute Dave Stewart
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    Jan 26th 2020, 3:08 AM

    @Derek: the future is vast Derek

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    Mute Derek
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    Jan 26th 2020, 11:27 AM

    @Mick McGuinness: install Typhoon TV if you have an android device to watch it, handy app as I’ve found a lot of shows aren’t available outside US/Canada or not available here yet on Amazon or Netflix

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    Mute Bríd
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    Jan 26th 2020, 12:51 PM

    @Mick McGuinness: Amazon Prime Video is 2.99 a month. Worth it for Picard.

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    Mute Christopher Mulrooney #WeAreStarfleet
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    Jan 26th 2020, 12:35 AM

    10/10 though i did a rewatch of the entire franchise(shows and movies) in the last 6 months so everything is mostly fresh in my mind. Love Star Trek.

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    Mute Tricia G
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:11 PM

    Actually sitting here after watching Voyager and now on TNG and still only got 7, sheesh!

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    Mute Ricky
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:31 PM

    @Tricia G: Voyager was class…

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Jan 25th 2020, 11:09 PM

    @Ricky: pity they didn’t have a final film w Voyager and DS9 crew

    Rick Bergman made a balls of it all

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    Mute Ricky
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    Jan 26th 2020, 9:54 AM

    @Quentin Moriarty: Voyager finale was very rushed, especially the last 10-15 minutes. And Enterprise wasn’t really any good. So looking forward to seeing what happened after Voyager ended.

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    Mute Figo murphy
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:12 PM

    You should have put a wrong answer to one of them and watch the internet break down.

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    Mute Nathan Hayes
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:43 PM

    8/10, thought I knew the show better

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    Mute John Quinn
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    Jan 25th 2020, 11:25 PM

    9/10 love it!!

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    Mute Phillip O'Brien
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    Jan 25th 2020, 10:04 PM

    Some options are plain ridiculous. Obviously little thought put into it.

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    Mute brefanlfc
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    Jan 26th 2020, 9:45 AM

    @Phillip O’Brien: Have you ever kissed a girl?

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    Mute Phillip O'Brien
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    Jan 26th 2020, 11:53 AM

    @brefanlfc: A lot, yes; what’s your point.

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    Mute Dominic Kenneally
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    Jan 26th 2020, 1:08 AM

    7/10..make it so!

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    Mute sean
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    Jan 26th 2020, 2:10 AM

    @Dominic Kenneally: say that to Alexa

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    Mute Cormac Laffan
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:33 PM

    8 outta 10.!!
    Ok, only knew Q and that was because of James Bond..

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    Mute
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    Jan 26th 2020, 1:45 AM

    10/10 Doesn’t happen often for me so I’m happy. Love Star Trek. Had to eliminate some wrong answers for a couple.

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    Jan 26th 2020, 3:23 AM

    @: There are 4 lights!

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    Mute Jason Ebbs
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:21 PM

    3/10….thank God for that.

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    Mute Quentin Moriarty
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    Jan 25th 2020, 11:07 PM

    Star Trek the wrath of Khan
    Nothing compares in the ST universe

    “……when I swing around I mean to deprive you of life “

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    Mute Ger Power
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    Jan 26th 2020, 1:16 AM

    7/10 v happy with that. My wife is a massive Star Trek fan. Gonna send her the quiz now. Be great if I could beat her, would be like her beating me on a 24 quiz

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Jan 26th 2020, 3:27 AM

    @Ger Power: make sure and keep us all in the loop how she gets on Ger!!

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    Mute Ger
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    Jan 26th 2020, 4:59 AM

    First quiz where I ever got 10/10 and I’m not really a big fan. Only watched Next Generation

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    Mute Colm Curran
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:22 PM

    5/10 wats star trek

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    Mute Lukevic101
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    Jan 26th 2020, 10:01 AM

    Get in, 10/10 on my 14th attempt. I knew I could do it!

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    Mute Joe Kennedy
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    Jan 26th 2020, 10:41 AM

    @Lukevic101: perseverance Luke, fair play. As the old proverb says….”if at first you don’t succeed, give it a load more goes!!”

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    Mute Ricky
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    Jan 25th 2020, 9:58 PM

    10…Dog..Next…

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    Jan 25th 2020, 11:51 PM

    Ah ! Bad enough if I thought I was missing a dolphin. More quizzes please.

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