The French doctor due to decide the fate of a tetraplegic patient in a vegetative state has unexpectedly turned the case over to the state, saying disputes between rival factions of his family - one of which has Catholic church support - made a calm decision about ending or continuing his treatment impossible.
The case of Vincent Lambert, in a coma since a motorcycle accident six years ago, has been a major bioethical dispute in France, pitting his parents and Catholic supporters arguing for continued care against his wife and several siblings who say he would not have wanted to be kept alive like this.
It was expected that Dr Daniela Simon, who has been caring for Lambert in a hospital in Reims, would announce an end to his feeding and hydration. The European Court of Human Rights last month upheld a French court's decision of June 2014 that authorised withdrawal of artificial nutrition and hydration.
Before the decision, nine bishops of the Rhone-Alpes region, where Lambert’s parents live, spoke out for him. “Our brother Vincent is not at the end of his life,” wrote the bishops, including Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon. Those caring for him “simply respect the course of this life, whose mystery escapes us and whose end belongs to no one.”
Lambert's parents welcomed the doctor’s decision while his wife Rachel said pressure groups were “terrorising the hospital”. Conservative Catholics have made his case into a public cause, even suggesting retaliation against the hospital if it ended his treatment. “They've created a form of Catholic terrorism and are ready to do anything,” Lambert’s sister Marie said.
After the doctor’s decision, the bishops’ conference said her choice “shows the extreme complexity of the situation and its deeply painful character. It urged Catholics to pray for Lambert and his family in “humility, moderation and discretion”.
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