Piotrs death, the 28th March 2009

My beautiful son Piotr died on the 28th March 2009, in Gorlice Hospital.

I went to the Hospital at about 10pm that night, and I held my son in my arms.

His body was broken and bruised. The injuries he had suffered were many, and visible.

I will never forget the brutality, the inhumanity of what I encountered in that Hospital room. It was Dickensian, it was like walking into a horror show, the absence of dignity, the absence of respect for human life, for my son.

I walked in to that room, in the doorway was a small metal Hospital trolley, used for bringing small items to patients, perhaps jugs of water, maybe a bed-pan, items of that size. It was covered in dirty Hospital style Kitchen towel, the kind of paper I have seen used for cleaning Hospital floors, or perhaps to dry hands in a Hospital toilet. Harsh paper, recycled grey paper.

I immediately turned left into the ward, and saw 2 Nurses sitting at a desk, reading a magazine, and laughing. They looked up at me, briefly, and went back to their fun conversation.

I looked around, and saw Piotrs Mother, Oliwia Oleksyk, in one of the beds, She was the only patient in the ward. There were 2 nurses, 1 patient, so they had time to read their magazine, and laugh.

I went over to her, I had a million questions,  but was incapable of asking any of them. I was numb. I spoke very briefly with her, and then I asked her where the Piotr was, where my son was.

She pointed at the doorway, I didn't understand. And then she said: "He's over there, on that trolley".

I was confused, on that trolley was only dirty recycled paper. But she was insistent. I walked to the trolley, and started lifting some of that dirty soiled paper, and there, to my horror, was my beautiful son Piotr.

This Hospital, this Polish Hospital, these Nurses and Doctors, had thrown the body of my dead son Piotr on a hospital trolley, covered by dirty, soiled paper. They had thrown the still warm body of my child on a trolley like detritus. I was weak, numb, shocked, horrified.

I picked up my precious son, my child, from this filth. I held him in my arms, his body lifeless and bruised. His little head was swollen to twice that of a normal , healthy size. His eyes bulging and bruised. his abdomen swollen.

I held him for, I don't know how long, maybe 5 minutes, maybe an hour. I could not believe my son was dead, I could not believe the barbarity of that Hospital and those nurses, it is impossible for me to describe my feelings to you reader, I do not have the words, even today, to describe how I felt seeing my son, my beautiful son, dead in my arms. I cannot describe my anger at the callousness and degradation, the inhumanity, the lack of respect, for his life and his death.

It was the first time I would encounter such lack of respect for Human life in Poland, but , as I would discover in the months and years to come, In Poland, a death is nothing, a dead person is nothing. The Polish State cares not for the death of an Innocent baby, nor his Father. I knew it not then, but I have had to fight for more than 6 years for Justice for my son Piotr, and for myself.

I promised Piotr I would get Justice for him, I would find out how he died, why he died. Little did I know as I made that promise, that the horror was at a beginning, not an end.

And so, at about midnight on Saturday the 28th March 2009, I left that Hospital, and did what all those born as Catholics do, I thought of the Church, the Priest, the funeral, the burial. I thought of friends and family in Ireland, and phoning them to tell them my son was dead. Telling them what I had encountered at the Hospital, knowing I could answer none of their questions, as I had no answers myself.

And so, as I sat through that night, I prepared to do what no parent should ever have to do, that is to bury my own child, my son, my Piotr.

To learn about my son Piotrs' death, the findings of the post-mortem by the Polish State pathologist, and a great deal more surrounding Piotrs' death, please click on the link below, which is to a sister blog that I write.

piotrmchale.blogspot.com

To learn about mu fight for Justice for Piotr, and for myself, please click on the below link to another blog that I write.

nojusticeinpoland.blogspot.com