Vatican reiterates that it considers removal of feeding tubes immoral

Source: The Canadian Press, AP

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican reiterated Friday that it considers the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states to be an immoral act.

...

At the time, the Vatican condemned Schiavo's death as "arbitrarily hastened" and called the removal of her feeding tube a violation of the principles of Christianity and civilization.

...

Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of the U.S. bishops Committee for Doctrine, said the American bishops hoped the Vatican's explanations would provide guidance to pastors, ethicists, doctors, nurses and families involved in the issue.

Read more: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvBi9MKa_85lBVvWfBLJWYgNxDBA

"...a violation of the principles of Christianity and civilization."

And yet killing men, women, and children in an illegal war doesn't seem to be a violation of the same
principles!

Go figure.

as far as I can tell, and I'm in no way a supporter of the vast majority of what the Vatican says or does.

companies in the defense/weapons area of business.

speak out against the war. While I care about their investments, I care more what positions they take on issues.
If the Vatican were consistently pro-life (in their view) anti abortion, anti death penalty, anti removing feeding tubes I can respect them, even if I don't agree with them on some issues, like choice.

You care more about what they SAY (what positions they purport to take) than what they DO (who they give money to and make money from, like war profiteering)?

Maybe I'm misreading you. Can you clarify?

have one inserted for a month. Then they might have some credibility.

Your Holiness, respectfully - shut up.

Not only do I not consider the day-to-day of a person in a persistent vegetative state "living", the cost of such care is staggering. You think its immoral, sir? Step down from your high horse, sell off some of your little private country, and pay for it yourself.

I'm only 32, but I've had a living will for years. It stipulates that if I am not able to function on my own, let me go. Not only do I not want to live like that, but I do NOT want to burden my family with the expense.

to have happen needs to be considered. And nature (or God, if you will) did not intend that a person in a persisten vegetative state be stay alive indefinitely. Perhaps if it were put in terms the Pope can understand - that, when there is no hope of recovery, feeding tubes contradict the will of God - he'd change his tune.

I know quite often the so called "Pro-Lifers" believe life is defined as beginning with conception and ending with "natural death"

But, what is natural death? If some one is in a peristant vegetative state and requires a feeding tube to survive, isn't that unnatural life?

Their natural death has already occurred.

It's the only way they can truly decide what's best.

What did the Vatican pontificate upon before feeding tubes were invented?

At least in theory another matter they know nothing about.

Irrelevant bunch of self righteous, pedophile loving MEN.

No offense.

Feeding tubes are a product of science and medicine.

Anything that isn't based upon faith healing should be considered immoral to the church.

...then they wouldn't advocate or approve of the use of feeding tubes to start with!

HA!

This policy does not work for all cases. It is never a easy decision to remove the tube but often the quality of life is so poor that most would prefer to move into the afterlife than to remain in life in that state.

he apparently hasn't seen Sicko, or he would be singing a different tune. Feeding tubes sometimes get pulled because the insurance/state charity care will no longer pay (see Texas cases for example). As for Terry S., the autopsy found her brain to be mush.

whole?
:evilgrin:

:evilgrin:

Tell the pontif to suck it up. :D

some Eggs Benedict? Clogs arteries and feeding tubes.

I thought feeding tubes were an artificial way of sustaining life. Would it not be God's will for the person to die? Is it not going against the will of the God of the bible to artificially sustain that life?

Just my .0125

Julie

their money where their feeding tube is.

Wouldn't a Christian be looking forward to death and the great beyond?

I hear even those on feeding tubes get fish on Fridays.

And mind its own business.

...take these pronouncements by the Catholic Church seriously?

Okay it's a rhetorical question. I know about Opus Dei etc. But really -- where do they get off?

Logically this would make doctors think twice before putting that feeding tube in, since once it's in, there's all sorts of pressure never to take it out. Whereas if you don't put it in you might be able to do something to hasten the patient's demise and no one would be the wiser. Doctors make life-or-death decisions all the time; it goes with the job. We call it "playing God", but really it is a very human task that requires judgment. One hopes that medical professionals will be allowed and expected to exercise their judgment in situations like this.

Here's how it would work in my ideal world: you start by putting in the feeding tube if required to keep the patient alive; once the condition is stabilized and assessed, one makes decisions from there. If the patient recovers their faculties enough to communicate, then obviously one consults with them as to how to proceed. If the patient cannot communicate, one errs on the side of caution and keeps them alive long enough to determine the longterm prognosis. If the longterm prognosis is PVS, then the family comes into play. If they want to pay to keep their family member in a state of suspended animation, rather than allowing her to meet her Maker, then that is their prerogative and arrangements are made. Otherwise, a decision is taken among the family and medical staff and possibly an ethics board, and the decided upon action is taken, which may include removing the feeding tube. This takes away the fear that such a decision is taken lightly or without due process and consensus.

One more thing. If the state will not allow the family to decide to remove the feeding tube in a situation like this, then the remaining burden of medical and living expenses for the PVS patient falls to the state. Also, there is a special fee for Catholic hospitals -- as active promoters of this policy, which burdens the medical system, the state coffers and families as well -- whenever a PVS patient is maintained alive by the state against family wishes, they are required to pay double the amount of the aforesaid medical and living expenses: one half goes into the state fund to support these patients, and one half is used to help fund single-payer universal health care.

This all happened just before living wills became legal in our state. After her 3rd stroke, my great aunt needed to have Dilantin in order to stop very strong seizures which threatened her frail 88 year old body. She had indicated in numerous discussions over the previous several years that she didn't want heroic measures or feeding tubes. Dilantin can only be administered orally, there is no injectible form, so they intubated her. She remained in a coma, and when Medicare hospital authorization expired, she was transferred to the only local nursing home, which is Catholic Church affiliated, where AGAINST HER FAMILY'S WISHES they fed her through the tube.

She regained consciousness 6 weeks later, and tried repeatedly to pull out the tube but was too weak. She was partially paralyzed and could no longer speak but when asked it was clear that she wanted all the tubes out and wanted to go home. My mom and uncle had to find a doc who would sign her out of the nursing home and let her go home (actually, my Mom's house, where she had lived for 15 years) to die where she wanted to die. Then they called Hospice and made arrangements for their caregivers and volunteers.

She died peacefully at home early the next morning, just as she wished.

That's why I have executed a Durable Power of Attorney for health care to a friend that I can trust to do what I want to have done when I can't make that decision, and a Living Will that instructs medical providers on what I do and do not want for end of life care.

It's none of this 14th Century Pope's business, either.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070801_risposte-usa_en.html

The Vatican News Release on the Subject:
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/press/vis/dinamiche/c0_en.htm

The Actual Response:
CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

RESPONSES TO CERTAIN QUESTIONS
OF THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS
CONCERNING ARTIFICIAL NUTRITION AND HYDRATION



First question: Is the administration of food and water (whether by natural or artificial means) to a patient in a “vegetative state” morally obligatory except when they cannot be assimilated by the patient’s body or cannot be administered to the patient without causing significant physical discomfort?

Response: Yes. The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented.

Second question: When nutrition and hydration are being supplied by artificial means to a patient in a “permanent vegetative state”, may they be discontinued when competent physicians judge with moral certainty that the patient will never recover consciousness?

Response: No. A patient in a “permanent vegetative state” is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means.



The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved these Responses, adopted in the Ordinary Session of the Congregation, and ordered their publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, August 1, 2007.

Now if we could get the best of both worlds; have people in a vegetative state have children... Oh dear, I'm coming close to knocking a certain part of the United States...

:hide:

But it is not up to them or any Government intervention into those private matters.

NT!

If their so pro-life, instead of locking arms and blocking clinics, they should lock arms and block cemetaries.

Such a shame he died so young. If he were alive today he'd be livid with the state of world and US affairs, but his material would be solid gold.