New York, 31st March 2005 (CNA)
- Two prominent Catholic ethicists say the
media portrayals of Church teaching on end-of-life
issues, surrounding the Terri Schiavo case, are
often inaccurate and misleading, reported the
Culture of Life Foundation in their most recent
publication.
The two ethicists underlined that the
Church makes a distinction between ordinary care,
which is always required, and extraordinary care.
"The Church teaches that we have a moral
obligation to support life," said Richard
Doerflinger, deputy director of the Secretariat
for Pro-Life Activities at the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
"That obligation has limits. People talk
about ordinary and extraordinary means. That just
means that when the efforts to sustain life start
doing more harm than good to the patient the moral
obligation ceases to apply. Even then you should
never abandon a patient and never deny them the
basic care owed to everyone because of their human
dignity," he told the Culture of Life
Foundation.
In speaking about extraordinary care, Fr.
Thomas Williams cited Pope John Paul II's 1995
encyclical, The Gospel of Life. "For treatment to
be considered extraordinary, death must be
'imminent and inevitable' and the treatment would
result in 'precarious and burdensome prolongation
of life,'" he explained.
The dean of the theology department of
Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University offered
the example of a cancer victim who, after several
rounds of treatment, has found chemotherapy to be
ineffective and foregoes the treatment in order to
avoid its side effects.
While both ethicists said in some instances
it could be extremely difficult to determine the
difference between extraordinary and ordinary care
and that in such instances people must follow
their conscience, both men said the Schiavo case
is clear-cut.
However, a recent article in the Washington
Post painted the Pope’s March 2004 comment that
food and water must always be considered basic
care as contrary to Catholic teaching. The Post
journalist based his argument on the writings of
two 16th-century Spanish theologians,
Francisco de Vitoria and Domingo Banez.
Both ethicists pointed out to the Culture
of Life Foundation the weaknesses in the Post
article. "What they said does not mean that one
can refuse to consume food for any length of time
or refuse food that would save one's life,” said
Fr. Williams. “What they mean is that if you are
dying and the food would make you sick to your
stomach or you would die anyway, you can refuse
the food," he explained.
Doerflinger said the article failed to
bring up the many statements calling food and
water basic care that preceded the Pope's address,
including statements by the U.S.
bishops.
