Bishops intervene for English man trying to keep right to hydration

Published: 2005-05-19

LONDON (CNS) -- The English and Welsh bishops have intervened in the case of a terminally ill man fighting a court battle for the right not to be starved and dehydrated to death when he loses the ability to communicate. Leslie Burke, 45, a Catholic from Lancaster, England, has suffered from cerebellar ataxia, a degenerative disorder of the nervous system that causes unsteadiness and lack of coordination, since 1982. Burke, a former postman, knows eventually he will not be able to communicate and said he fears that doctors may withdraw nutrition and hydration. The Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales submitted written evidence in Burke's favor during a May 19 hearing at the Court of Appeal in London, where Burke was defending an earlier ruling that the practice of withdrawing food and fluids was unlawful. In their submission, the bishops said human dignity could be violated by "acting on the basis that the person would be better off dead and so can deliberately be killed by an act or a planned course of omissions."

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