After Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans, the Vatican's pediatric hospital has published the “Letter of rights of the incurable child.”
The central point is the distinction between treatment and healing. In other words: if a child cannot be cured, that does not mean he has to be disconnected from life support by force.
The letter is divided into 10 points. It asks for recognition that every child has the right to receive the best experimental treatment, or move to a different country to receive them if necessary. Also that the patient or his relatives can go to another doctor to receive a second opinion; and the opinion of the minor's parents be granted more respect.
MARIELLA ENOC
President, Bambino Gesù Hospital
'The path that the hospital is seeking is to draw attention not only to individual cases, but to the underlying problem.'
The 10 points is the result of Bambino Gesù hospital's experience after offering help to the families of these two children.
The hospital intends to initiate an ambitious process: for the international medical community to acknowledge the letter and for it to be accepted by political bodies such as the European Union. It will not be a easy journey, since the political implications are great.
