WASHINGTON -- France's highest civil court today ruled that Vincent Lambert must die by starvation and dehydration. Vincent was nearly made dead last month, but at the eleventh hour, an appellate court ordered that his food and water be restored. Today's order appears to be final, as Vincent's parents have exhausted all of their legal remedies to keep their son alive.
As this goes to press, Vincent is being heavily sedated. Why? Because they know that death by starvation and dehydration is excruciating. Advocates for euthanizing Vincent say they want him to die with "dignity." But there is nothing dignified about withholding food and water from a disabled person.
"In any other context, killing by starvation and dehydration is considered a crime against humanity," said Life Legal Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "Yet in France-as in the United States-we routinely impose this type of torturous death on individuals who are disabled. This has to stop. Disability should not be a death sentence."
Life Legal regularly intervenes in cases where people are denied life-sustaining care, including the provision of food and water.
About Life Legal Defense Foundation
Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org.
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SOURCE Life Legal Defense Foundation