Do you have an opinion on France's Vincent Lambert?

Good God, if it’s his free will to want to end it why not?
I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live like that.
2013?? is the guy still here?
I kinda get the feeling from what I read he is.

@SQUEEKY2 His wife is ready to let him go, his family is not. It’s an interesting scenario.

Due to his medical status, he is unable to speak, so his will is not known. His eyes follow family, he eats when they feed him, so he’s not completely gone.

Now that the plan is to withhold nourishment, he won’t last long, I’m sure.

It is his choice to end his life.

Fortunately, here in the US we can create a Living Will that covers such a situation so the patient gets the final say even when they can’t speak for themselves. When I created my Living Will, I had a long talk with my Mom about what I wanted to happen IF I was ever in such a situation. Surprisingly, she agreed with me & promised that she wouldn’t make me suffer anymore than life was giving me. After she thought about it some more, she had her own Living Will drawn up requesting the same. As it turned out, she had to use hers before I did. Since I had instructed her to respect my wishes, I felt compelled to respect her instructions. I can understand the mother’s reluctance as she’s not ready to let her baby go. She’s hoping for a miracle. Fortunately, I only have one family member left & I’ve made it clear to him that when the time comes that he’s to let me go & I don’t see him having a problem with that!!! I find it sad that France doesn’t have a similar system in place to cover this guy’s wishes.

You can create a living will in Europe as well. The trick is to it before you end need it.
Fortunately in the US the expense of keeping someone on life support indefinitely would probably result in your family pulling the plug after a day or two.

I trust his wife more than I trust his parents. If she says that they had discussed it and he didn’t want to ve a vegetable, that’s fine with me.

When my mother had a medical emergency last spring (medication interaction caused a bleed out), as POA, I had to decide to keep the paddles close or not. My mom is still here and I’m so glad. Stories like these just make me cringe, especially with family disputes.

For myself, it would have been much harder in a situation like this, where his eyes follow you, he still eats, so just cutting off nutrition seems incredibly harsh as far as the decision-making process if you are the medical POA.

Since he had the will to survive no treatment since 2013 that says something about his fighting spirit.
I heard of a young man with similar disabilities but had to be fed etc
He suddenly came out of his non talkative way and started to talk…he told many horror stories of what he endured as an invalid that of abuse my caregivers.
He also stated that he did understand everything and everybody around him all the while.

They end animals lives less cruel, cut off feeding?
isn’t there a shot that would simply put him to sleep?
The guy has suffered enough,his wife has suffered enough,he should have a easy pain free option made to him,not starving him to death.

While elsewhere people die of hunger.

@KNOWITALL “For myself, it would have been much harder in a situation like this, where his eyes follow you, he still eats”

These are reflexive functions controlled in the brainstem. When the brainstem is not significantly damaged these functions will often remain intact. That does not, however, mean that the person is likely to ever recover cognitive functions, such as awareness, thinking, deliberate movement, etc (which are controlled in the cerebral cortex).

Here is another one highlighting that the medical system is not perfect and CAN make mistakes in giving advice and treating patients that supposedly have NO brain activity.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/01/09/376084137/trapped-in-his-body-for-12-years-a-man-breaks-free

Here is HIS story of his ordeal of ten years!
He is married and living much better now.
He never lost hope and improved over time.

http://www.ghostboybook.com/

@Inspired_2write

Nowhere in that article did it say anything about NO brain activity. No brain activity is death. When there is no brain activity even automatic body functions, such as breathing and blood circulation, cease. The only way a person with no brain activity lives (if, indeed, such an existence can be called “living”) is through artificial means. There was never any pretense that Martin Pistorius was brain dead. The fact that automated functions, like breathing, continued the entire time would have been proof to any day 1 med student that the brain was still functioning.

What Mr. Pistorious suffered from is what is known as “Locked-In Syndrome”. It’s rare, and it’s not always easy to diagnose, but it’s not unheard of.

And 12 years? Ugh. Kill me then and there, because there’s no way I’d wish to endure a decade+ of that nightmare, even if I knew I’d recover one day in the future.

@Darth Same, my directive is clear on that.