Dr. Sanchez, in charge of Vincent Lambert, announced this Monday to the family. The Reims University Hospital has decided to stop the treatments. A decision taken after a fourth collegial procedure.
Is this the final decision in the Vincent Lambert case? Dr. Vincent Sanchez, head of the palliative care center at the CHU de Reims, summoned the relatives of this patient in a state of minimal consciousness on Monday. Along with other caregivers, the doctor decided to stop Vincent Lambert’s artificial nutrition and hydration.
“Unreasonable Obstinacy”
At the end of a fourth collegial procedure, launched last fall, Dr. Sanchez concluded that there was “unreasonable obstinacy” towards the quadriplegic patient. This procedure had been initiated at the request of François Lambert, Vincent’s nephew, in favor of stopping treatment.
The two previous collegial proceedings, conducted in 2013 and 2014 by Dr. Eric Kariger, had reached the same conclusion, but these decisions had been challenged in court. The third procedure, carried out in 2015 by Dr. Simon, had been interrupted.
The doctor gave the family 10 days to file appeals challenging this decision.
Appeal before the administrative court
The lawyers for Vincent Lambert’s parents, Maître Jérôme Triomphe and Maître Jean Paillot, have now and already announced their intention to file a first appeal before the administrative court.
Vincent Lambert, a former psychiatric nurse, is hospitalized at the Sébastopol hospital in Reims, after a road accident in September 2008 near Châlons-en-Champagne. Since that date, his family has been torn about his fate by multiplying legal proceedings.
On the one hand, Vincent Lambert’s wife, his nephew and several of his brothers and sisters are in favor of stopping treatment. On the other, his parents, a brother and a sister are firmly opposed to it.
To find out more, you can find a longer report in the program Enquêtes de region, this Wednesday, April 11 after Evening 3.
