Case Vincent Lambert : State Council must again decide

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Published the 10.07.2017 at 11h17

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The days follow and resemble each other in the case of Vincent Lambert. For the second time, the Council of State is called to position themselves on the decision-making process for discontinuation of care. On 10 July, he will have to decide between the members of the family of this forty-something woman, in a vegetative state since 2008. Two applications will be reviewed simultaneously.

The two gripes concern the opinion of the administrative Court of Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle), rendered June 16, 2016. He directs the university hospital of Reims (Marne) to resume the procedure collegiate church on the judgment of care that keep Vincent Lambert alive. But this judgment is, it seems, remained a dead letter.

The nephew of the middle-aged asked the Council of State to force the hand to the hospital. In the hope that this time the appeals are exhausted – the cessation of care will be effective. The parents of Vincent Lambert, opposed to such a measure, the want for them to cancel the verdict of the administrative Court of Nancy.

A legal series

The change of the care team should not help untangle this bag of knots. Dr. Daniela Simon, who had been following Eric Kariger at the bedside of Vincent Lambert, left his post on January 1, 2017. This could endanger the procedure that had been begun.

The Council of State will therefore have to decide on a major issue : the court can compel a physician to a medical decision, and ethics, by the intermediary of the hospital ?

Without deciding on the matter, the administrative Court of Nancy, Nancy, had given them direction. On June 16, 2016, she has directed the university hospital of Reims to give caregivers the means to continue the process collegial. The process was resumed at the beginning of July… but stops abruptly less than 20 days later. The hospital believed that the conditions of peace and security, were not met. Since then, nothing has changed.

To recall, Vincent Lambert is in a deep vegetative state since a road-traffic accident in 2008. His family is torn on the judgment of the care that keeps him alive artificially. In 2014, the Council of State ruled legal the decision to discontinue these. But the resignation of Eric Kariger has reignited a long series of legal remedies.