Text 11774, 90 rader
Skriven 2005-04-18 22:13:32 av EARL CROASMUN (1:275/311)
     Kommentar till en text av VERN HUMPHREY
Ärende: Bo Gritz
================
EC>Well, at least you glanced at that response long enough to see the word
EC>"explain" within it.  But you overlooked the rest of the sentence.  It
EC>was in reference to the 1992 paper put out by the National Conference of
EC>Catholic Bishops to (using their words from the introduction) "clarify"
EC>the health care directive.  The actual directive says that your
EC>unauthorized explanation is incorrect.  The longer clarifying document
EC>from the Conference of Bishops says your unauthorized explanation is
EC>incorrect.  One of the actual AUTHORS of the guideline says your
EC>unauthorized explanation is incorrect.  The theological consultant who
EC>helped to write the guideline says your unauthorized explanation is
EC>incorrect.  Prior to the Pope's 2004 statement on PVS, Bishop Lynch of
EC>St. Petersburg said your unauthorized explanation is incorrect.

-> No -- find one bishop who disagrees with the Pope's clarification.
-> You can say what you like, that don't make it Church doctrine.

To remind you again of the point at issue, Terri Schiavo's court
appointed guardian ad litem made this comment in his 2003 report to the
governor: "It is noteworthy that the general principle of artificial
nutrition as artificial life support that may be removed in terminal and
even vegetative state conditions is reflected in nearly all states laws
and within the guidelines of end of life care enunciated by the American
Conference of Catholic Bishops and other religious denominations."

For weeks you have gone to great length to try to deny one part of that
one sentence, without ever once actually making any reference to those
guidelines!  Well, as I demonstrated weeks ago, the guidelines DO
reflect the fact that there are instances where artificial nutrition can
be removed in terminal and/or PVS patients.  The directive itself says
it. The Conference publication that talks about the directive on
nutrition and hydration says it.  I even cited one of the authors of the
directive, the theological consultant to the committee that wrote the
directive, and the article in "Catholic News" that indicated that
Catholic hospitals were following the policy indicated in those
guidelines and thus were thrown into a dilemma when the previous pope
made a 2004 statement that contradicted that policy.  Perhaps, at some
point in time, those guidelines will be rewritten to be more in line
with your wishes.  But it hasn't happened yet.

More from that article:

"Denying such care to a PVS patient, the Pope concluded, was euthanasia
by omission.

That view contradicts the policy followed by Catholic hospitals in the
US, which consider feeding tubes to be medical care that may be
withdrawn when the burdens of a particular treatment are deemed to
outweigh the benefit to the patient. This is the view upheld by the US
Supreme Court.

A spokesman for the US bishops Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities said
the theological stakes have now been raised over the question. To have
the Pope speak on this and speak his mind is something people on both
sides of the question have been waiting for for years, said Richard
Doerflinger, adding that it was not clear how it would affect Catholic
hospitals. It does not remove practical judgements about whether a
feeding tube in an individual case is doing more harm than good, he
said.

Dr Charles Daschbach, academic director at St Josephs Hospital in
Phoenix, Arizona, said there were about 10,000 PVS patients at any one
time in American hospitals. St Josephs decided how to care for its small
number of PVS patients according to the requirements of each one, he
told the Arizona Republic.

The Tablet says Catholic health providers will now look for directives
from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which in 1992
favoured continuing to feed PVS patients but left the final decision to
patients families and doctors. Cardinal William Keeler, the Archbishop
of Baltimore, last week said it could be some time before the directives
were revised. We are waiting for an analysis from our moral theologians,
who will look at every angle, he said.

The Catholic Health Association, which oversees Americas 624 Church-run
hospitals, said the Pope had reminded people of the responsibility not
to abandon the sick and the dying. But the current directives for
Catholic hospitals would remain in place until the significant ethical,
legal, clinical and pastoral implications of the Popes statement had
been carefully considered, the association said last week. "









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