It’s escaped most of the world’s attention, but France has been fixated in recent months on the case of Vincent Lambert a 42-year-old brain-damaged man who died on July 11 as a result of being starved and dehydrated to death. L’affaire Vincent Lambert has been marked by public protests against the successful effort to deny him food and water. It’s also rekindled the euthanasia discussion in France.
Euthanasia remains illegal in France. In the final stages of François Hollande’s presidency, however, a law was introduced allowing patients deemed terminally ill the right to be put into deep sedation. This involves administering strong sedatives to ease suffering until the patient expires. It is also possible for a medical determination to be made to withdraw life support.
