A French appeal court has confirmed that the wife of a tetraplegic man who has been a coma since 2008 can decide whether his life support is turned off. Vincent Lambert's parents have contested doctors' decisions to stop the intravenous food and water keeping him alive, reports RFI.
The court in Reims endorsed an earlier court decision to grant Lambert's wife, Rachel, and a coalition of local family support groups the right to decide whether he should continue to receive care.
In June a public prosecutor called for the right to decide to be given to two people who were not related to the 39-year-old former psychiatric nurse but the court rejected this option.
Rachel Lambert, along with five of his brothers and sisters and one of his nephews, wants Lambert, who has been unable to communicate since a motorbike accident in 2008, to be allowed to "die with dignity".
But his parents, Pierre and Viviane, who are devout Catholics, argue that he is not brain dead but handicapped.
They are supported by one of his sisters and his half-brother.
As soon as the latest judgement was announced, the parents' lawyer, Jean Paillot, said they would appeal against a decision he dubbed "astonishing".
The Reims hospital currently caring for Lambert has already said it would abide by the court's ruling.
His parents want him transferred to another establishment.