This Sunday 19th May, the family of Vincent Lambert organised a rally in front of the University Hospital of Reims to protest against the end of treatment, scheduled from Monday.
“Life for Vincent! “: About 150 people gathered Sunday, May 19, 2019 in front of the University Hospital of Reims to protest against the discontinuation of treatments – scheduled from Monday – Vincent Lambert, this patient in a vegetative state for ten years.
Read also: Vincent Lambert’s parents will file new appeals
“I am Vincent Lambert”, “Vincent Lambert is not at the end of life, feed Vincent Lambert”, “do not let Vincent die of hunger”, could we read on the placards of this gathering at the call of the parents Vincent Lambert, Pierre, 90, and Viviane, 73, fervent Catholics, with the association “I support Vincent”.
“Transfert ! Transfert ! Transfert pour #VincentLambert“
Rien qu’en France, 7 structures spécialisée sont prêtes à accueillir Vincent Lambert ! pic.twitter.com/Yucq20st5y
— Je soutiens Vincent (@SoutienVincent) 19 May 2019
Around 3.30pm, Vincent’s parents arrived in the rain and applause.
“It’s a disguised euthanasia”
“Vincent is not at the end of his life. He has reactions. I have videos. I will show them. Vincent is locked in the death row. Vincent must live, “said Viviane Lambert.
“It’s a disguised euthanasia. I keep hope. We will fight, “she added, a bouquet of lily of the valley in her hands, which she would then deposit in her son’s room.
Vincent’s parents then headed for another entrance to the hospital, surrounded by the crowd shouting “life for Vincent! “.
“Vincent respire comme vous et moi (…) Le docteur Sanchez veut arrêter l’alimentation et l’hydratation de Vincent. Si il arrive à ses fins, nous pourrons dire que c’est la première euthanasie légale en France.” David, frère de #VincentLambert, devant l’hôpital de Reims pic.twitter.com/H2PVOjLenE
— Je soutiens Vincent (@SoutienVincent) 19 May 2019
End a “therapeutic relentlessness”
Remi, 71, came to support Mrs. Lambert, who arrived shortly before 4:00 pm. “For her, it’s the horror of horror,” he laments.
“Vincent Lambert must be hospitalized in a clinic to receive patients like him,” said Bruno, 63, neurologist doctor in Lille and Paris.
The decision to stop Vincent Lambert’s treatment is at the heart of a legal battle since 2013, which pits two parts of his family: on the one hand, parents, a brother and a sister oppose it; on the other hand, his wife Rachel, his nephew François and six siblings of the patient want an end to a “therapeutic relentlessness”.
Vincent Lambert, quadriplegic and in a vegetative state since a road accident in 2008, did not write any advance directives.
Towards an intervention by Emmanuel Macron?
The fourth procedure of stopping the care, requested in April 2018 by the medical team and supported by his wife and tutor Rachel Lambert – who says he would not have wished to be the subject of a relentless therapeutic – was validated at the end of April by the Council of State.
The parents’ lawyers have since seized the Paris Administrative Court and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which dismissed their appeal. The Defender of Rights, he said Friday that it “does not belong to him” to decide.
But after the bishops Saturday, François-Xavier Bellamy, head of the list in the European elections, also pleaded Sunday “that we allow ourselves time” in the Vincent Lambert file, in which Emmanuel Macron should intervene, according to him.
“Patient’s right not to be unreasonably obstinate”
The UN Disability Committee (CRPD) has also twice called on France to suspend the decision pending the examination of the merits of the case.
France reiterates that these precautionary measures “are not binding” and puts forward the “right of the patient not to suffer unreasonable obstinacy”.
The lawyers then turned Saturday to the President of the Republic, which has not responded for the time, and announced they would file three “new appeals” Monday, without further details.
