The doctors had stopped the nutrition and hydration Vincent Lambert receives, following an earlier judicial ruling in accordance with the wishes of his wife and other relatives.

The new order to resume life came just a few hours after doctors had started switching off Lambert's life support.

The court said authorities had "to take all measures" to keep Lambert (42) alive while a review by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is completed.

Lambert's mother said the ruling is "a very big victory" for her struggle to keep her son on life support.

Lambert has been a quadraplegic in a vegetative state since a motorcycle accident 11 years ago.

The ruling marks a dramatic reversal in the case which has divided France where, although euthanasia is illegal, doctors are allowed to put terminally ill patients into deep sedation.

It has also divided Lambert's family who are in disagreement over how he should be cared for.

His wife, six of his eight siblings and his nephew have repeatedly called for his feeding tubes to be withdrawn.

His Catholic parents and two other siblings remain adamant life support should continue.

In an open letter published last weekend in which Lambert's parents asked Macron for help, they said:

"Mr President, Vincent Lambert will die without hydration in the week of 20 May if you do nothing and you are the last and only one able to intervene."

Macron declined to intervene, saying "the decision to stop treatment was taken after continual dialogue between his doctors and his wife, who is his legal representative."

Prior to the latest court ruling, Pope Francis spoke out in favour of keeping Lambert alive.

"Let us always safeguard life, God's gift, from its beginning until its natural end. Let us not give in to a throwaway culture," he said.

Source

• RFI
• Image: CBS News

Vincent Lambert became a quadriplegic and was left in a comatose state after a motorcycle accident in 2008.

In 2013, Lambert's wife and six of his eight siblings asked courts to rule that his hydration and nutrition be disconnected.

In response, his parents, who are Catholics, initiated a legal fight to protect their son's life.

The case went all the way to the European Court of Human Rights, which approved the removal of hydration and nutrition.

French end of life law allows the suspension of treatment in futile cases.

The Catholic Church in France has protested that Lambert is not undergoing any treatment, but is simply receiving food and water via a feeding tube.

He is not in a vegetative state as such, given that his body reacts to certain stimuli and is able to feel pain.

The hospital in Reims said it did not intend to switch off the machine sustaining the patient.

"This procedure cannot go ahead given the current lack of calm and certainty," doctors explained.

They referred the issue to the health ministry last Thursday.

Doctors had reportedly feared that there could be plot by pro-life activists to abduct Lambert from the hospital and kidnap members of his medical team.

Lambert's nephew said the doctors' decision to continue hydration and nutrition was due to intimidation.

Public prosecutors have been asked to look at the case.

The row over Vincent Lambert is similar to a legal fight over Terri Schiavo, a Florida woman who suffered brain damage in 1990 and was left in a vegetative state.

Eventually her husband won a protracted court case to have her feeding tube removed and she died in 2005.

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Catholic News Agency
• The Telegraph
• Image: Paris Match