Posted on 03/20/2004 9:28:59 AM PST by phenn
March 20, 2004, 11:34 AM EST
VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II said Saturday the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states was immoral, and that no judgment on their quality of life could justify such "euthanasia by omission."
John Paul made the comments to participants of a Vatican conference on the ethical dilemmas of dealing with incapacitated patients, entering into a debate that has sparked court battles in the United States and elsewhere.
The pope said even the medical terminology used to describe people in so-called "persistent vegetative states" was degrading to them. He said no matter how sick a person was, "he is and will always be a man, never becoming a 'vegetable' or 'animal.'"
In a vegetative state, patients are awake but not aware of themselves or their environment. The condition is different from a coma, in which the patient is neither awake nor aware. Both, however, are states in which the patient is devoid of consciousness.
If the vegetative state continues for a month, the patient is said to be in a persistent vegetative state; after a year without improvement, the patient is said to be in a permanent vegetative state.
Providing food and water to such patients should be considered natural, ordinary and proportional care -- not artificial medical intervention, the pope told members of the conference, which was organized by the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and the Pontifical Academy for Life, a Vatican advisory body.
"As such, it is morally obligatory," to continue such care, he said.
Since no one knows when a patient in a vegetative state might awaken, "the evaluation of the probability, founded on scarce hope of recovery after the vegetative state has lasted for more than a year, cannot ethically justify the abandonment or the interruption of minimal care for the patient, including food and water," he said.
Similarly, he said that someone else's evaluation of the patient's quality of life in such a state couldn't justify letting them die of hunger or thirst.
"If this is knowingly and deliberately carried out, this would result in a true euthanasia by omission," he said.
John Paul has consistently voiced opposition to euthanasia, which the Vatican defines as "an action or omission that by its nature and intention" causes death to end pain. It says euthanasia always is a violation of God's law.
The issue over removing feeding tubes has prompted several court cases and legislation in the United States, Australia and elsewhere.
In a highly publicized case in Tampa, Fla., the husband of a severely brain-damaged woman, Terri Schiavo, has battled her parents for years to have his wife's feeding tube removed so she can die. He says she wouldn't have wanted to be kept alive with it.
The issue has involved the state legislature as well as the governor, who was given the authority to have the feeding tube reinserted after the woman's husband had it removed.
In his comments, John Paul said families of such ill people needed more emotional and economic support, so that they can better care for their loved ones. In addition, he said, society should commit more money to find cures for them.
Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press
(Excerpt) Read more at nynewsday.com ...
Yes, the bishops have been silent regarding far too many evils.
If you've ever come out of anesthesia, you know this feeling. It has to be everyone's worst nightmare.
Funny. You SAID you were addressing what the Pope said. NOW you are retreating into a much narrower definition. If the brain is dead the person is dead, the machine ISN'T "keeping you alive".
In post 10, you state you disagree with the pope.
"I disagree with the Pope."
What is your disagreement then, since the pope never mentioned keeping someone brain dead alive by machines? In fact the Church gave it's okay in removing artificial support for someone brain-dead, as in Karen Quinlan's case. To everyone's amazement she lived, and died years later.
Glad that's cleared up.
This is an awesome development in the Culture Wars, folks, one whose impact cannot be overestimated. No longer can spineless bishops like Terri's equivocate on that which OBVIOUSLY is MURDER! Rome has spoken!!!
Pope Ends Debate over Nutrition and Hydration for Patients in Vegetative State
ROME, March 20, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a speech today to the international congress on "Life- sustaining treatments and the vegetative state", Pope John Paul II has made the first definitive statement on nutrition and hydration, ending years of debate among theologians. The Pope clarified that removal of nutrition and hydration from patients in a vegetative state who are not otherwise dying is gravely immoral.
Alex Schadenberg, of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is in Rome at the conference and told LifeSiteNews.com, that the issue has been troubling for Catholic Church leaders for many years with different bishops and theologians coming to different conclusions on the matter. "The Bishops of Texas said a couple of years ago that nutrition and hydration in the case of a patient in a vegetative state was optional, however the Bishops of Pennsylvania said that nutrition and hydration were mandatory, just as the Pope has affirmed today."
In his address the Pope taught "In particular, I want to emphasize that the administration of water and food . . . always represents a natural means of preservation of life, not a medical treatment." He continued, "Its employment is therefore is to be considered, in principle, proportionate and ordinary, and as such morally obligatory."
Thus John Paul II confirmed that by commission or omission, euthanasia is "a serious violation of the Law of God" and is the "morally unacceptable deliberate killing of a human person."
Schadenberg told LifeSite that the Pope directly contradicted Catholic theologians such as the famed Kevin O'Rourke who suggest that when a person is no longer able to exercise higher functioning he ceases to be a person. The Pope said, "I feel the duty to reaffirm with vigor that the intrinsic value and the personal dignity of every human being does not change." He said, "A man, even if seriously sick or unable to exercise his higher functions, is and will be always a man, he will never become a 'vegetable' or an 'animal'."
The Pope said cost cannot be a factor as human life is of supreme value. Moreover considerations of "quality of life" pain management cannot factor into the equation when dealing with denying nutrition and hydration since such considerations stem from a principle of eugenics.
See the Pope's full address (in Italian) at: http://www.vatican.va/news_services/bulletin/news/14536.php?index=14536&lang=en
Thank God our Pope is JPII, not the worldlywise such as Destro.
So ends my rant and I return, having failed briefly, to my FR Lenten posting fast.
Go hug your mom. Your natural body couldn't feed itself, but she stepped in and saved you from dying of starvation. Although I do feel sorry for her whenever she gets too old to care for herself and you're put in charge. Be very careful because one fall in the shower or slip on the stairs might just bring on a change of mind.
(Hint. Hint.)
You could start by asking the mods to remove your multiple assinine statements.
although its not expensive to run tube feedings, there are many consequences....
such as, aspiration pneumonia which can occurr even with those tidy litte PEG tubes...
and with pneumonia, you have hospitalization frequently, IV antibiotics, IV fluids, respiratory therapy, probably some physical therapy, etc...
and suppose the tube-feed pt codes....do we do all the CPR procedures?
it just seems that you need to make a humane decision somewhere along the line....
Why not make that decision early on, when there is no hope of recovery, and spare the pt. so much pain and suffering from the numerous interventions that are going to have to be done....
dying of aspiration pneumonia has got to be a rough way to go.....
Takes a big man to admit when he's wrong.
Of course, my question is whether I still need to worry that I am channeling Satan?
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