Catholic Hospitals to Uphold Living Wills ( & Ignore the Pope?)

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Roman Catholic hospitals are reassuring patients they'll honor living wills in the wake of a papal pronouncement that hospitals should never remove feeding tubes from patients in persistent vegetative states.

In a talk March 20, Pope John Paul II said that feeding and hydrating such patients is ``morally obligatory'' - and that withdrawing feeding tubes constitutes ``euthanasia by omission.'' Since then, American bishops, theologians and ethicists have been studying the issue closely to see what the pope's words will mean for hospital operations in the United States.

For now, many hospitals are deferring to the ``Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services'' - commonly called ERDs - outlined by the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops.

According to those guidelines, feeding tubes for people in chronically vegetative states are ``medical treatment'' that can be continued or halted based on the benefits and burdens for patient and family.

What the Holy Father has done is reiterate what the Catechism states and further delared and interpreted what it means:
2277 Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable.

Thus an act or omission which, of itself or by intention, causes death in order to eliminate suffering constitutes a murder gravely contrary to the dignity of the human person and to the respect due to the living God, his Creator. The error of judgment into which one can fall in good faith does not change the nature of this murderous act, which must always be forbidden and excluded.

He clarifies that food and water are "morally obligatory". There is no ambiguity in that phrase. But those of us who cannot understand what the Holy Father means by that phrase must have it 'nuanced' for us - after it is studied so as to be 'understood'. I think what we have is a conflict with Catholic theologians and with what the US Bishops have stated:
All patients deserve to receive normal care out of respect for their inherent dignity as persons. As Pope John Paul II has said, a decision to forgo "purely experimental or ineffective interventions" does not "dispense from the valid therapeutic task of sustaining life or from assistance with the normal means of sustaining life. Science, even when it is unable to heal, can and should care for and assist the sick."[16] But the teaching of the Church has not resolved the question whether medically assisted nutrition and hydration should always be seen as a form of normal care.[17]
...
Such factors vary from one type of feeding procedure to another, and from one patient to another, making it difficult to classify all feeding procedures as either "care" or "treatment."

The article goes on:

``We have to figure out more specifically what he meant and the implications. I think it's too soon to tell; there are a lot of filters to go through,'' said Dan Dwyer, director of ethics for the Springfield, Mo.-based St. John's Health System, which includes a half-dozen regional hospitals.

``It reminds us of our responsibility never to abandon the sick or dying,'' said the Rev. Michael Place, the CHA's president and chief executive.

Still, he said, the pope's words have ``significant ethical, legal, clinical, and pastoral implications that must be carefully considered,'' requiring dialogue among bishops and health-care providers. Such guidance or clarification isn't expected for months; until then, the CHA assumes the ERDs stay in effect.

Great, more dialogue...for months - for clarification. The skeptic in me suspects that some may be seeking ways around following the guidance and directives of the Holy Father - much as we have witnessed since Humanae Vitae.

Article is here.