A last-ditch appeal to the United Nations forced French doctors to resume life support Tuesday for a man who has been in a vegetative state for years and whose case has drawn attention across Europe.
Vincent Lambert was critically injured in a 2008 car accident, and his parents and wife disagree on whether to keep him alive artificially. After years of legal battles, a team of doctors decided last year to stop giving him food and liquids and allow him to be sedated until death. Doctors stopped feeding him on Monday.
But his parents appealed to the U.N. Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, arguing the 42-year-old should be treated as disabled.
And in a surprise twist just hours after his feedings were halted, a Paris court ordered a freeze on previous rulings while the U.N. committee considers the case. That process could take years.
Doctors resumed feedings Tuesday, the parents' lawyer told French media at the hospital in Reims east of Paris. The parents want Lambert transferred to facility for the disabled instead.
The Lambert case has provoked national soul-searching over how to deal with terminally ill patients, and has drawn attention around Europe.
It was central to the debate leading up to France's 2016 law on terminally ill patients. The law allows doctors to stop life-sustaining treatments, including artificial hydration and nutrition, and to keep them sedated until death. It stops short, however, of legalizing euthanasia or assisted suicide.
The European Court of Human Rights and France's top administrative body had upheld the doctors' earlier decision to stop Lambert's life support, with the court finding the move did not violate Lambert's rights.
Commenting on the case Tuesday, two top Vatican officials issued a joint statement saying that the provision of food and water to the sick was an "inescapable duty."
"Suspending such care represents a form of abandonment, based on a pitiless judgment about the quality of life and an expression of a throwaway culture that selects the most fragile and defenseless people, without recognizing their individual, immense value," said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, in charge of Catholic laity, and the Vatican's top bioethics official, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.
Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed.
The shooting Wednesday of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in the town of Handlova following a political event sent shockwaves across Europe three weeks before EU parliament elections are scheduled to be held.
Leaders from across the political divide denounced the apparent assassination attempt against the populist, pro-Russian leader, calling it an attack on democracy.
Here’s what European leaders and others are saying:
“What has happened is something that we cannot seem to realize because we cannot comprehend it. A physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy. Any violence is unacceptable. Hateful rhetoric we’ve been witnessing in society leads to hateful actions. Please let’s stop it.” – Slovak President Zuzana Caputova, Fico’s political rival, in a televised statement.
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“An assassination attempt on one of the highest constitutional officials is an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy. If we express different political opinions with guns in the squares, and not in polling stations, we endanger everything we have built together in 31 years of Slovak sovereignty." – Slovak President-elect Peter Pellegrini.
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“We strongly condemn this act of violence against our neighboring partner state’s head of government. Every effort should be made to ensure that violence does not become the norm in any country, form, or sphere.” -- Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine on social media.
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“Shocked and appalled by the shooting of Prime Minister Robert Fico. I wish him strength for a speedy recovery.” — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
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“I was deeply shocked by the heinous attack against my friend, Prime Minister Robert Fico. We pray for his health and quick recovery! God bless him and his country!” -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
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“I am alarmed to hear reports of an attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. Jill and I are praying for a swift recovery, and our thoughts are with his family and the people of Slovakia. We condemn this horrific act of violence. Our embassy is in close touch with the government of Slovakia and ready to assist.” -- US President Joe Biden in a statement.
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“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good.” – European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
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“Shots fired at Robert are shots at freedom and democracy… there can be no room for violence in politics.” Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic.
FILE - Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova, right, and newly appointed Prime Minister Robert Fico pose for a photo during a swear in ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Bratislava, Slovakia, Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023. Prime Minister Robert Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year. Having previously served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, the 59-year-old's third term made him the longest-serving head of government in Slovakia’s history. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Prime Minister Robert Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year. Having previously served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, the 59-year-old's third term made him the longest-serving head of government in Slovakia’s history. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, pool, File)
Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, right, talks to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. Prime Minister Robert Fico returned to power in Slovakia last year. Having previously served twice as prime minister, from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2018, the 59-year-old's third term made him the longest-serving head of government in Slovakia’s history. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
