Human-rights court orders man to be starved to death

The European Court of Human Rights ruled a British hospital can allow a man who was treated for a heart attack to die of starvation or dehydration.

The right-to-life cases was brought to court by the Christian Legal Center on behalf of the mother, two sisters and a niece of the man identified only as "RS," said the British charity Christian Concern.

The court ruled the case was "inadmissible," meaning officials at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust were allowed to withdraw food and water from the man, beginning Thursday night.

Under such protocols, death usually follows within a few days, usually of dehydration.

The government of Poland had intervened, as the man is a Polish citizen. But the ECHR ruling removed the last hope of the family to save the man's life by returning him to his home country.

Christian Concern explained: "After RS was taken to hospital following a heart attack in early November, the doctors at University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust concluded within a few days that it was in his best interests to withdraw all life-sustaining treatment. In the end of November, an application was made to the Court of Protection to resolve the dispute with RS’s mother and other members of his family, who insisted on preserving his life.

"Following an online court hearing earlier in mid-December, Mr. Justice Cohen agreed with the NHS doctors that, with appropriate treatment and care, RS could survive 'for up to five years or more.' Since the heart attack RS has been recovering, but the judge found that he would never recover beyond 'a minimally conscious state' where he could barely 'acknowledge a presence of another human being.'"

The judge decided the man "would not want to be kept alive in a state which provides him with no capacity to obtain any pleasure and which is so upsetting to his wife and children."

Should a hospital allow patients to die of starvation or dehydration?

His wife had told the judge her husband was a Catholic who did not want to be kept alive and a "burden" on his family.

The rest of his family, however -- his mother, sisters, niece, children and grandchildren -- had wanted life-preserving efforts continued.

The hospital already had withdrawn food and water at Christmas, but the appeal to the ECHR put on temporary hold on that.

The man's mother, who name was withheld under court requirements, said: "I am devastated that the British authorities have decided to dehydrate my son to death. I want to take my son back to his own country, where I would be allowed to care for him. What the British authorities are trying to do to my son is euthanasia by the back door."

The same issue played out in the United States with the death of Terri Schindler Schiavo. She died of starvation and dehydration after a court ordered the removal of her feeding tube.

Mary Schindler and her daughter, Terri Schiavo, after Terri had suffered her brain injury.

"If you go back and look at her records, she was starting to form words," her brother, Bobby Schindler, told WND in a 2015 interview on the 10th anniversary of her death. "It was really encouraging to our family, and to Michael right at first."

WND has been reporting on the Terri Schiavo story since 2002. Read WND's unparalleled, in-depth coverage of Terri Schindler Schiavo's life-and-death fight, including more than 150 original stories and columns.

Her husband, Michael, went to court against the Schindlers, ultimately winning an order to withhold her food and water.

Schindler and his devout Catholic family commemorate "Terri's Day" each spring to honor his sister's memory and "pray for all of our medically vulnerable brothers and sisters."

In response to Terri’s death, his family established the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network to advocate for medically vulnerable persons. Since its founding, the network has helped more than 2,500 patients and families.

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