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 the Council of Bishops’ Conferences of Europe (CCEE)
