Posted on 07/01/2013 1:07:54 PM PDT by Welchie25
After concelebrating his cousins’ confirmation Mass, Father Bialek walked out the front door of St. Ursula late in the evening May 18 to commotion near the intersection.
He went over to help, and saw his parents, who had just left the Mass, injured in the road, hit by a pickup as they were crossing a street. His mother, Sharon, 67, was unconscious.
Physicians at Baltimore’s Shock Trauma Center told Father Bialek and his father that Sharon had suffered severe brain damage and likely would not regain consciousness or live without a respirator. They also discovered the return of the ovarian cancer she had beaten a year ago.
The father and son decided to remove Sharon’s respirator, and she died early on the morning of May 20.
Eight days earlier, Father Bialek had given her Mother’s Day flowers and a hug and kiss at the end of Mass at Resurrection of Our Lord, where he is pastor. Her final gift to him, he said, was the preparations she had made for death, including advanced directives that outlined her wishes not to be left on life support.
The certainty he and his father had about Sharon’s wishes was a comfort, Father Bialek said.
With advances in medical technology, end-of-life care has increased in complexity, often leaving loved ones to decide whether a dying person’s life should be extended, and by what means. Many agonize over the possibility of doing too much – increasing the likelihood of prolonged suffering – or not doing enough, causing a person to die prematurely.
Meanwhile, laws in some states permitting physician-assisted suicide question the very nature of death, asserting that a person has a “right to die” – especially when suffering from a terminal disease – at a time and manner of his or her choosing.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicreview.org ...
With Obamacare it may well be state mandated death as the very young and the very old will simply be denied treatment. Look at the recent case of the 10 year old girl needing a lung transplant..written in stone federal policies would have condemned her to death...only by court intervention did she get a chance at life. Obamacare will willingly fund abortion abattoirs like those run by Dr. Gosnell, but will be denying care to innocent babies born with serious medical problems solely because of cost of NICU care.
Those “written in stone” policies were in place for a real medical reason. The lung transplant of the 10 year old was a big mistake. Only after three days her body said noooo and rejected the shaved adult lungs. She was quietly given another transplant with lungs that were compromised with pneumonia. She will never live a “normal” life and more than likely the second set will go bad within the year.
bttt
**At their core, Catholic health care ethics promise the patient five things, said Father Michael A. DeAscanis, chaplain of the Catholic Medical Association’s Baltimore Guild:
We are here to help you.
We won’t mutilate you.
We won’t kill your child.
We won’t kill you.
We won’t help you kill yourself.**
**Her final gift to him, he said, was the preparations she had made for death, including advanced directives that outlined her wishes not to be left on life support.**
There is something in me that just cannot accept this. It’s like saying a person wants to commit suicide.
My personal opinion.
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There is something in me that just cannot accept this. It’s like saying a person wants to commit suicide.
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And so, God willing, you will be able to reach the end of your life as you see fit.
I cannot agree that advance directives are barely concealed suicide notes. I’m sure my sister and I could have kept our mother alive a few days, maybe even a week longer had we ignored her wishes.
To what end?
If you ever need medical help, even if it won't allow you to live a normal life, keep your words in mind. Especially if you fail the mortality test required to get treatment. http://www.westernjournalism.com/obamacare-death-panels-are-here/
Does anyone still remember Terri Schiavo? Just because you wouldn't want to live that way doesn't mean you have the right to tell someone to die that way.
Sebelius didn’t make that rule. A team of transplant experts made the rule to give the recipient the best chance for survival.
I have a terminal lung disease {Pulmonary Fibrosis). I know about transplants. You are right unless you have been in this situation, you are only speaking from emotion. I walk in those shoes where only a double lung transplant will give me a FEW more years at best.
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