(France 24) – French doctors are set to begin removing life support from paralysed road accident victim Vincent Lambert on Tuesday, in what could be the final act in a hugely controversial right-to-die case that has drawn in Pope Francis.
The main doctor treating Lambert, Vincent Sanchez, informed his family by email that he intended to start removing his feeding tubes in line with a French court ruling last Friday, according to the message that was shared with AFP.
The doctor urged family members to ensure that “support to Mr Vincent Lambert is as peaceful, intimate and personal as possible”.
Lambert, 42, has been in a vegetative state since a 2008 car accident, with the question of whether to continue keeping him alive artificially bitterly dividing his family and the nation.
Legal battles in French and European courts over the last six years have pitted Lambert’s Catholic parents and two of his siblings — who want to keep him alive — against his wife and six other brothers and sisters. CONTINUE