{"id":116500,"date":"2014-01-21T22:42:32","date_gmt":"2014-01-22T03:42:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/?p=116500"},"modified":"2014-01-21T23:54:45","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T04:54:45","slug":"schiavo-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"Schiavo redux"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/iframe><\/p>\nA French court has ordered a Reims hospital to provide nutrition and hydration to 38-year old quadriplegic Vincent Lambert, who has been in a state of minimal consciousness (<\/span>en \u00e9tat de conscience minimale) for five years following a motorcycle accident.<\/p>\nLast Thursday a tribunal administratif overruled the wishes of the hospital, Lambert\u2019s wife and some of his siblings who wanted to cut off intravenous feeding. The court sided with his parents and his other siblings, who as observant Catholics, objected to euthanizing him. Le Monde<\/em> reports the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lemonde.fr\/sante\/article\/2014\/01\/16\/la-justice-s-oppose-a-l-euthanasie-passive-de-vincent-lambert_4349386_1651302.html\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">Lambert case<\/a> will reopen the contentious debate about euthanasia, the value of life and human dignity in France.<\/p>\nHave we not heard this before?<\/p>\nThe Lambert case has a number of parallels with Terri Schiavo saga in America: a spouse ready to move on vs. Catholic parents not ready to let go; no clear statement of the patient\u2019s wishes, conflicting medical terminology of persistent vegetative state v. minimal consciousness; political intervention by Congress and partisan debates in the French parliament; and a high profile role played by Catholic bishops. While it is early days yet, the most striking difference is the different decisions reached by the courts.<\/p>\nIn Florida the courts came down on the side of death, even though the presumption of the law is in favor of life, while in France they have chosen life, even though euthanasia is legal. \n \nThe hospital authorities can now appeal against the decision before France\u2019s Constitutional Council. The French press reports the Lambert case comes amidst a growing social and political debate over legalizing assisted suicide and euthanasia. President Francois Hollande this week entered into the fray, saying he favored the legalization of euthanasia, but covered his bases by saying it was appropriate only under strict government scrutiny.<\/p>\nA 2005 law permits passive euthanasia, where a person causes death by withholding or withdrawing treatment necessary to maintain life. According to Aujourd\u2019hui en France <\/em>the court <a href=\"http:\/\/www.leparisien.fr\/societe\/euthanasie-le-tribunal-maintient-l-alimentation-de-vincent-lambert-16-01-2014-3500037.php\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">ruled against <\/a>death as Lambert\u2019s condition was not terminal. \n<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote>Le tribunal a notamment \u00abjug\u00e9 que la poursuite du traitement n\u2019\u00e9tait ni inutile, ni disproportionn\u00e9e et n\u2019avait pas pour objectif le seul maintien artificiel de la vie et a donc suspendu la d\u00e9cision d\u2019interrompre le traitement\u00bb. La juridiction a par ailleurs estim\u00e9 que \u00abc\u2019est \u00e0 tort que le CHU de Reims avait consid\u00e9r\u00e9 que M. Lambert pouvait \u00eatre regard\u00e9 comme ayant manifest\u00e9 sa volont\u00e9 d\u2019interrompre ce traitement\u00bb.<\/p>\nThe court\u2019s ruling \u201cheld that continuing treatment was neither unnecessary nor disproportionate and was not intended only for the artificial preservation of life and accordingly suspended the decision to stop treatment.\u201d<\/span> The court further held that \u201cit is wrong for [the hospital] to have decided that Mr. Lambert could have been regarded as having expressed a desire to discontinue treatment.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nLe Figaro<\/em> explained the court in Chalons-en-Champagne ruled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lefigaro.fr\/actualite-france\/2014\/01\/16\/01016-20140116ARTFIG00491-la-justice-decide-de-maintenir-vincent-lambert-en-vie.php\" target=\"_blank\" class=\" decorated-link\" rel=\"nofollow\">against ending<\/a> Lambert\u2019s life as he was neither \u201csick nor at the end of life \u2026 \u201c, \u00ab ni malade ni en fin de vie \u00bb.<\/p>\nThe French newspapers I have seen have done an excellent job is covering this story. The Aujourd\u2019hui en France <\/em>story quotes doctors and family members on both sides of the debate, a spokesman for the French Episcopal Conference, and the politician who introduced the 2005 euthanasia law to parliament.<\/p>\n Le Figaro<\/em> and Le Monde<\/em> are equally even handed in the sourcing of their stories and in the description of Lambert\u2019s condition and the court ruling.<\/p>\nHow different the French reporting on Vincent Lambert has been so far compared to the job the American press did with the Terri Schiavo case. It will be fascinating to see if the New York Times<\/em> and other outlets on this side of the Atlantic pick up the story, and whether they use the phrase \u201cbrain dead\u201d \u2014 a legal not medical term the French press have so far avoided.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A French court has ordered a Reims hospital to provide nutrition and hydration to 38-year old quadriplegic Vincent Lambert, who has been in a state of minimal consciousness (en \u00e9tat de conscience minimale) for five years following a motorcycle accident. Last Thursday a tribunal administratif overruled the wishes of the hospital, Lambert\u2019s wife and some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":600,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,7,24],"tags":[2849,1474,502,166,501,2851,2850],"class_list":["post-116500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholicism","category-journalism","category-world","tag-aujourdhui-en-france","tag-euthanasia","tag-france","tag-le-figaro","tag-le-monde","tag-terri-schiavo","tag-vincent-lambert"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Schiavo redux<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A French court has ordered a Reims hospital to provide nutrition and hydration to 38-year old quadriplegic Vincent Lambert, who has been in a state of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Schiavo redux\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A French court has ordered a Reims hospital to provide nutrition and hydration to 38-year old quadriplegic Vincent Lambert, who has been in a state of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GetReligion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-22T03:42:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-01-22T04:54:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/en\/thumb\/3\/39\/Schiavo.jpg\/220px-Schiavo.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"geoconger\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"geoconger\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/\",\"name\":\"Schiavo redux\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-22T03:42:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-22T04:54:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#\/schema\/person\/5344a38d25f08ff2bda8bdba054cc062\"},\"description\":\"A French court has ordered a Reims hospital to provide nutrition and hydration to 38-year old quadriplegic Vincent Lambert, who has been in a state of\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/2014\/01\/schiavo-redux\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Schiavo redux\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/getreligion\/\",\"name\":\"GetReligion\",\"description\":\""The press . . . just doesn't get religion." - 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