English
The President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, wrote to Card. Vincent Nichols, President of the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales, to make efforts to save life of a Pole in the hospital in Plymouth.
The President of the Episcopate emphasized that the public opinion in Poland was shaken by the decision of the British court to stop giving food and water to a Pole who was hospitalized in Plymouth with a brain injury. “In fact, he was sentenced to death by starvation” – he wrote.
He recalled that the man’s wife and children, living in England, agreed with the decision, but his mother, both sisters and niece had expressed their objection. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg refused their complaint several times, which allowed the hospital to continue the procedure of taking the patient’s life.
“The authorities of our country assured that they would cover the costs of treatment and transport. The British court does not agree to transport the patient as the journey may be life-threatening” the President of the Episcopate noted.
In the letter he wrote, the President of the Episcopate quoted the words of St. John Paul II from Evangelium Vitae, where the Pope noted that”. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated”.
Press Office of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
We publish the full text of the letter:
Eminence,
In recent days, public opinion in Poland has been shaken by the decision of the British court to stop giving food and water to a Pole who was hospitalized in Plymouth with a brain injury. In fact, he was sentenced to death by starvation.
The man’s wife and children, who live in England, agreed with the decision. But the opposite are the mother and sister living in Poland and the man’s other sister and niece, living in England. However, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has repeatedly refused their complaint, which allows the hospital to continue the procedure to deprive this man of his life.
The authorities of our country assured that they would cover the costs of treatment and transport. The British court does not agree to transport the patient as the journey may be life-threatening.
St. John Paul II in Evangelium Vitae wrote: „It is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another. A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or life-style of those who are more favoured tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of „conspiracy against life” is unleashed. This conspiracy involves not only individuals in their personal, family or group relationships, but goes far beyond, to the point of damaging and distorting, at the international level, relations between peoples and States” (EV, 12).
I turn to Your Eminence – as the President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales – asking for your help in this difficult matter and to undertake steps towards saving the life of our compatriot.
Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki
President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference
Vice-President of he Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE)
