“To our knowledge, the patient has had his nutrition and hydration support cut off, so we want to do it as soon as possible,” deputy health minister Waldemar Kraska told public broadcaster Polish Radio on Saturday.
He added that his ministry had all the logistics in place while only awaiting a decision from the UK authorities to start the patient's transfer to Poland. Kraska said that transport on a medical plane with specialized service was on hand for the purpose.
"Polish authorities stand ready to transport the man to the Budzik Clinic in northern Poland, which has agreed to accept him", Kraska said. The centre helps patients suffering from brain damage. "A person should always be given a chance. It is not we who decide when a man dies," Kraska added.
The District Court of Warsaw ruled on Friday that the patient, who remains in a vegetative state in the UK, is legally incapacitated, approving his transfer to Poland for treatment. The Warsaw Prosecutor's office, at the request of which the ruling was issued, said it was acting to ensure the Polish man a real chance of protecting his human and civil rights, "in particular the right to life and health."
The case concerns a middle-aged Polish man who has been in a coma at a hospital in Plymouth, southwest England since November 6 after suffering a cardiac arrest. The attack lasted for 45 minutes and left him with what doctors have described as severe and permanent brain damage.
Last month, a court ruling allowed the hospital to cut off the man’s life-support after his wife said he would not want to be a burden and should be allowed to die, according to Poland’s PAP news agency.
Meanwhile, the man’s mother and sister disagreed and said he would not have wanted his life support disconnected because of his Catholic beliefs, PAP reported.
The Polish president’s chief of staff, Krzysztof Szczerski, discussed the issue with Britain’s ambassador to Poland, Anna Clunes, on Monday.
(mo)
Source: PAP, IAR