by NexDev | January 22, 2016 | End of life, News, Palliative care
To everyone’s complete astonishment, the Reims Medical Center, appealed the State Procurer on July 23, 2015 to « request global protective measures and determine the referent that could legally represent” Vincent Lambert, hospitalized in a semi-conscious state since 2008.
On August 26, 2015, the Reims procurer requested the guardianship judge to name a tutor. The attorney of the young man’s parents, Jean Pailot, has just announced that the guardianship judge in Reims will examine the request of putting Vincent Lambert under protection on February 1st..
The Reims magistrate will decide whether or not to place Vincent Lambert under a guardian, and if so, to whom this responsibility will be assigned.
According to Attorney Paillot, « it’s possible, in view of the conflicting situation, for the judge to choose a guardian not related to the family, and possibly a legal person (…) We think that it will therefore be easier to consider with a guardian the transfer of Vincent to a different establishment where his health care will be better provided, with a new team caring for him.”
Note that several other legal cases are still being investigated. Recall the case of Vincent Lambert’s nephew, which purpose was to oblige the hospital to apply the end of life protocol decided at the time by Dr. Kariger, and which was rejected last October, and with an appeal is still pending. The cases filed by the parents are still under investigation.
by NexDev | January 21, 2016 | Bioethics, Medically Assisted Procreation
To help solve a masculine form of infertility linked to sperm motility problems, German researchers from the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Desden, Germany have developed the “Spermbot”, a micromotor capable of delivering the sperm to the egg.
The study published December 21, 2015 in the journal NANO Letters describes the device. The micromotor is made of special polymer with a double layer of nickel and titanium, which allows it to be activated by a rotating magnetic field. The American Chemical Society published a video showing an in vitro spermatozoid being driven using this technique.
In vitro, the first step is to capture the spermatozoid, thus the tail of the sperm must be inserted inside the coil with the head positioned in front. Then, the coil surrounding the sperm’s tail transports it and drives it to the egg. Once the destination is reached, near the ovocyte wall, the coil is propelled in the opposite direction to liberate the sperm to fertilize the egg. Without this micromotor, the spermatozoid would be unable to move.
If researchers can totally master this new technique, which effectiveness and safety remain to be proven, fertilization can be carried out directly in the uterus, but as the journal, Futura Sciences cites, “this technique is still far from being usable clinically”.
by NexDev | January 21, 2016 | Uncategorized
This past Thursday, on January 14, the Institute for the Family and the Republic (IFR) held a press conference at the National Assembly to present and announce the publication of its white book entitled: Marriage and the law: Protecting children.
The IFR represents an independent think-tank of more than 120 lawyers: magistrates, high-level civil servants, university professors and lecturers, lawyers, solicitors. Created in December 2013, this institute aims to develop proposals on all questions related to human rights and the family.
Their work, published the same day and sent to all PMs and European deputies in France, focuses particular attention on questions of the May 17, 2014 law, which opens marriage vows between individuals of the same sex and filiation.
IFR notes that « the law of May 17, 2014 has opened an endless zone of legal uncertainty for families and couples rights as well as for filiation rights. This law completely ignores the child, who appears only as its collateral victim.” In this white book, the jurists ask “Must the law of May 17, 2013 be revised? How? And for what new right for the family and for filiation?” On IFR’s internet site, they specify that: “These are legitimate questions and call for specific legal answers from the specialists, away from unproductive polemics and political quarrels.”
Thanks to the work of more than 39 expert contributors, their book presents 7 concrete proposals offering the legislator a range of legal tools in order to, for example, conduct a real policy in favor of the family, abolish surrogate motherhood on an international level, and set up real worldwide protection for children
If, in an article published on the same day, Guillaume Drago and Geoffroy de Vries, respectively president and general secretary of IFR predict “that the family will be a challenging issue at stake in the presidential election”, for IFR, “After the storm, the time for level-headed legal rights has come. Two and a half years following the law’s enactment, the calming words are now for the jurists to pronounce.”
The book: Marriage and the law. Protecting children is on sale on their Internet site.
by NexDev | January 19, 2016 | Bioethics
This past Monday, January 18, 2016, the 2nd evening of Alliance VITA’s bioethics conferences assembled more than 5,500 participants by videoconference by interconnecting more than 112 cities in France and 11 cities outside of France.
This year, the Alliance VITA team has taken care to focus on being very interactive with the participants, offering them time for questions, for personal reflections and actions plans.
« Interested, happy, enthusiastic, satisfied, pleased, touched, and delighted” are the words expressed by the majority of the approximately 2,000 individuals who were invited to respond by email to the question: how did you feel after the first evening?”
After taking time for “inner reflection” during the first session on the theme of personal impetus which incites one to get involved, the second session of this unprecedented training cycle was “Humanitarian action for the most vulnerable”. The objective was to realize that our society is wounded, especially regarding issues concerned with life, and inviting us to discern those whose suffering calls us to take action.
Dr. Xavier Mirabel, Alliance VITA’s medical advisor, introduced the evening by inviting us to realize that “care-taking” is a universal experience and that we are all “care givers”. “Being a care giver” is a call, launched to each of us; it can be learnt but it must be aligned with ethical boundaries, all the while avoiding pitfalls.
Valérie Boulanger, chief of the SOS Baby service, shared her experience of the help line, and her expertise related to her work in the field, in contact with associations, social workers, doctors, and psychologists to help the participants see and understand the social suffering related to maternity. She invited us to realize that there are injunctions and pressure weighing on these women, men, couples and youth in the area of sexuality or whenever an unexpected pregnancy occurs.
For his part, Henri de Soos, General Secretary of the association, and head of public relations, shared his expertise with us on the theme of the end of life, and thanks to his experience as leader of the service SOS End of Life, he clarified all the social suffering related to the end of life: suffering of sick or elderly individuals, their loved ones, their care-takers and more generally the suffering of the social entity as a whole.
Afterwards, Etienne Villemain was the guest speaker as a « Great Founder » of a social welfare program, as in every one of the evenings. In 2006, with a friend, Etienne created the “Lazarus association” – offering interdependent collocation with the homeless. His live interview was preceded by a video showing one of the women living in a shared apartment. Etienne mentioned the relational richness of sharing with the homeless and those who choose to cohabitate with them, being a witness to the difficulties and joys of everyday life, and emphasizing the seriousness of family separations which are often a source of social upheavals which lead all too many individuals to becoming completely defenseless.
To end the presentations, Caroline Roux, Alliance VITA’s assistant chief delegate, presented the humanitarian work that Alliance VITA has performed for the past 20 years for the most vulnerable, specifically thanks to the help line services and helpful tools such as the guide “I am pregnant”.
The round table between the 5 speakers of the evening allowed the participants to have complementary answers to questions from the interconnected cities, notably: How to help isolated individuals rediscover the joy of living? Or: how to protect the freedom of conscience? […]
The evening ended by a proposition for participants to reflect on an experience which had previously led them to take care of a vulnerable person, to detect their capacities and the personal desires which incite them to act in favor of the culture of life.
The event had a strong impact on the net as well, the hashtag #UDVie which is assigned to the event scored in the top 10 on Twitter France.
>> Note: Join us Monday January 25, for the 3rd evening dedicated to “Political action for rights and justice”.
by NexDev | January 15, 2016 | Uncategorized
In a decree issued on January 14, 2016, the European Court of Human Rights considered the best interests of the child would be to know the truth about his biological origin, even if the child in question does not request it, and that the French court was correct in amending the birth certificate by mentioning the biological father.
The European Court of Human Rights thus confirmed the annulment of the paternity acknowledgement cited by the spouse of the mother, which was requested by the biological father, judging there was no violation of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights concerning the right to respect for private and family life. In particular, they acted that by confiding the parental authority to the mother, the child could continue to live with his current family, as he wished to do.
This decree justifies a more in-depth judicial analysis. The consequences of this decision may also be of importance on the current debates concerning the acknowledgement of children born outside of France by surrogacy: and in this case isn’t the double principle of the best interests of the child and the truth about his biological origin in contradiction to registering his birth certificate in the name of a fictional parent?
The decree issued by the House of the European Court of Human Rights is not final. The plaintiffs can request a new examination in the Grand Chamber in three months, but the Court is not obliged to accept it.
