Top French court grants coma patient the right to die

France 24, 2014-06-24

AFP

France’s top court ruled Tuesday to allow doctors to take Vincent Lambert off life support after nearly six years in a coma, siding with his wife in a case that has revived the debate about euthanasia and bitterly divided his family.

The Council of State, France's top administrative court, ruled that doctors had the right to end the medical support that has kept Lambert, brain-damaged and in vegetative state, artificially alive since a motorbike accident on the way to work plunged him into a coma in September 2008.

The verdict follows a heart-rending battle between Lambert’s wife Rachel, who was seeking to let the former psychiatric nurse die, and his parents, who took legal action last year to stop her.

A picture taken on January 9, 2014

 shows the front entrance to the State

Council in Paris

Doctors treating Vincent Lambert in the northeastern city of Reims, as well as his wife, nephew and six siblings, wanted to halt intravenous food and water supplies under a 2005 French law that allows for “passive euthanasia”.

But his deeply religious Catholic parents, another brother and another sister opposed the decision and took the matter to court in Chalons-en-Champagne near Reims, which ruled against ending his life earlier this year.

An investigation run by three court-appointed doctors has since concluded that Lambert is in a “completely unconscious vegetative state” and recommended ending his life support.

Rémi Keller, advocate general to the State Council, on Friday urged judges to follow the investigators' advice and allow Lambert to die, saying his treatment had “no other effect than to artificially maintain his unconscious solitude” and that there was no hope of recovery.

Vincent is ‘still with us’

"I would like the [report’s] conclusions to be followed by the State Council, that we let Vincent go peacefully, with dignity," his wife Rachel told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday.

But his parents, meanwhile, lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights in case of a ruling in favour of passive euthanasia. The European body said on Tuesday it would make an announcement immediately after the State Council gives its verdict.

Pierre and Viviane Lambert insist their son is "still with us”.

“Vincent is not a vegetable,” his mother told BFM TV. “I cannot conceive how the judges could possibly follow the [investigators’] recommendations.”

Lambert’s nephew François, who has been vocal in calling for Vincent to be allowed to die, told AFP: “All the evidence points towards terminating his treatment. But the day the State Council says his life support should be switched off, I won’t be jumping with joy.”

The question of whether he should be kept alive artificially comes at a time of intense debate in France over euthanasia, as the high-profile trial of a doctor accused of poisoning seven terminally-ill patients takes place.

Dr Nicolas Bonnemaison, 53, is accused of pushing the boundaries of the 2005 “passive euthanasia” law by actively shortening the lives of terminally ill patients.

Apart from places such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, few countries in the world explicitly permit euthanasia or assisted suicide, sometimes known as mercy killings.

But in France, where President François Hollande has promised to introduce new right-to-die legislation, grey legal areas remain regarding the more passive forms of euthanasia allowed under the 2005 law.

The so-called Leonetti law does not legalise euthanasia but also states that doctors should not provide "unnecessary or disproportionate" treatment that has no other effect than to maintain life "artificially".

(France24 with Reuters and AFP)

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 "Current" Events –  Apr 10, 2005 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll)

"... The Ethics of Life

You, as a Human Being, are designed to appreciate and love life. But you put it in a box. You think you live once. You say, life is precious; make it count; keep it going at all costs; make it work. And the underlying thought is that because you only go around one time, all the purpose is wrapped up in one lifetime. Well, I'm going to give you something to think about, something that happened just recently that tens of millions of people all over earth who have the western news media know of.

It was all about one woman's life, and you know who I'm talking about. I'm talking about Terri [Terri Schiavo]. And I'm going to talk about Terri because, you know, she's here [speaking of the real Terri]! And I'm going to give you a perspective about Terri that perhaps you hadn't thought about before, and as I do it, she's going to watch.

It's very metaphysical, you know? This perspective is one from my side of the veil. Terri leaned into the wind of birth many years ago, just as you did. I was there, too. There were potentials laying in front of her - a track that she could take if she wished. There was no predestination, only predispositions of energy that laid before her: the parents she would have (which she had selected), the man she might meet or marry, the accident waiting to happen. All of these things were in her "potential track," and she could have chosen not to go there.

But like so many of you, she looked at it and examined it. These were the times we spoke to her and said, "Dear one, you're going into another Human lifetime that has a potential that's awesome - grander than most Humans on the planet will ever experience. You'll get to present something to tens of millions of people. You'll make them think about life. You'll change the legal system of your country. You'll awaken peoples' awareness to situations that need to be addressed with respect to morality, integrity, and even intuition. Will you do it?"

And I remember what she said. The grand angel who stood before me, who you now call Terri, smiled broadly and said, "I'm ready for that." And some of you cry in your sorrow and say "Why is this Human dead? How could such a thing be tolerated? Why would such a thing happen? Life is so precious." And I ask you this, as Terri looks on in her joy, would you take this away from her? Would you take that away from humanity, what she showed and did that resulted directly in her passing?

Start thinking of these things, perhaps differently. We've told you before that there are even those Human Beings who come in with a predisposition of suicide! What a horrible thought, you might say. "Kryon, could that even be appropriate?" And we say this: More than appropriate, it's by design! "But why should that be?" You might say. "What a horrible dishonorable death." And if that's your reaction, you're placing the whole grand picture in your own little Human box.

When you start examining it spiritually, without Human bias, you start to see that around a suicide there's this energy that develops. It's all about the family. Is there shame? Is there drama? Does it kick the family in the pants so that perhaps they might study things they never did - or perhaps they might they even look within themselves for spirituality? Blessed is the one that comes in with these tasks [like suicide]. There are so many of them who do. For these are the grease of personal change within families, and provide a gift that is grand!

You see, Spirit looks at these things differently. The curtain goes up, it goes down. You come and you go and there are profound lessons, some of which are taught harshly, by those who teach them through their own deaths.

"Well, what is it Kryon? Don't dodge the question with a diversion to suicide, for this isn't what Terri did. Is it proper or is it improper to have somebody in this vegetative state put to death by others around her?" Our answer: Exactly which Human are you talking about? You want a blanket answer, don't you? For six and half billion souls and paths, you want one answer for all. Well, you won't get one. For Terri, the answer is a solid yes. It was as it should have been. She came in with this grand opportunity to change the world, and she did it while everyone watched.

There is appropriateness in all things and sometimes you create for yourselves what seems to be inappropriate. Yet later you understand what the gift was within the challenge. Celebrate Terri, and don't think of this as a shameful thing that Humans did to her. Think of it instead as a book that was written for you to look at, one which pushes you to a place to ask, "What should we do about this now, personally? What should our legislatures do about this, if anything? How can we approach these things more humanely and with more honor? Is our culture addressing this issue? Are we addressing this issue personally?" Let's put these questions where they belong. It's not about "right to life"; it's about the appropriateness of "this life." Each case is individual, and some are profoundly given for the planet and for those around the individual.

Oh, as all of you came into this planet and leaned into the wind of birth separately, each was unique. Each of you has a different story, a different goal, but all have the same purpose: the elevation of the vibration of the planet. Sometimes it happens to many of you at the same time. We'll get to that before we finish. ..."

"THE THREE WINDS" – Feb 23-24, 2013 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Humanity, Home - other side of the veil, Wind of Birth - Birth, Wind of Existence - Life, Wind of Transition - Death) - (Text version)