Slow Execution of an Innocent Man--October 2020

 

Mr. and Mrs. Valcin–July 2020 (Photo by John Carroll)

We are turning our back on a Haitian man who has been accepted by a surgeon and medical center in the States for pro bono heart surgery. He is being denied a visa for travel to the United States.

Mr. Valcin’s days are limited without heart surgery. (Surgery is indeed high risk, but doing nothing is even MORE high risk.)

Pope Francis released an encyclical yesterday called “Fratelli Tutti” which translates to “Brothers All”.

And according to columnist E. J. Dionne, the Pope’s purpose was to advance a world view that stresses “the communitarian dimension of life” and values “fraternity and social friendship.”

What “friendship” is being extended to Mr. Valcin by the United States when we won’t issue him a simple visa?

According to Dionne, “Francis’s emphasis throughout was on denunciations of “empty individualism,” a “narrow and violent nationalism, xenophobia and contempt, and even the mistreatment of those who are different,” and “a cool, comfortable and globalized indifference.”

As his physician and advocate, I am very sad. I feel like I am watching the slow execution of an innocent man.

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org