Removing respirator from PVS patient Removing respirator from PVS patient (Quinlan)(Quinlan)

Removing feeding tube from PVS patient Removing feeding tube from PVS patient (Jobes, Brophy, (Jobes, Brophy, Cruzan, Schiavo)Cruzan, Schiavo)

Removing feeding tube fromRemoving feeding tube from non- non-PVS PVS patient patient (Requeña, Conroy)(Requeña, Conroy)

Physician-assisted suicide Physician-assisted suicide (Kevorkian, (Kevorkian, Quill, Nitschke)Quill, Nitschke)

Direct killing by Direct killing by doctors doctors (Kevorkian & (Kevorkian & Youk)Youk)

Legalization of P.A.S. Legalization of P.A.S. (Oregon(Oregon’’s Death with Dignity s Death with Dignity Act)Act)

?

PassivePassive

ActiveActive

Continued Continued treatmenttreatment is is causing causing sufferingsuffering

Continued Continued livingliving is causing is causing sufferingsuffering

Therefore,Therefore, intention is intention is to remove to remove the the treatmenttreatment..

Therefore,Therefore, intention is intention is to remove to remove the the lifelife..

vtvtWhat did you think about in filling out your living will? What considerations went into completing the form? Was whatever you specified consistent with Catholic teaching on end-of-life decisions? Why or why not?

define active vs. passive euthanasia (and the notions of ordinary vs. extraordinary care on which that distinction is based)

locate these concepts within the Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia

identify the theological foundations for the Church’s view about end-of-life care

begin to apply these things to the removal of a feeding tube

I. The Value of Human LifeA. Living Wills: What affected how you filled in?B. The Church’s theological perspective

1. ‘We are not our own’2. Doctors play God when …

II. Euthanasia is …

III. Due Proportion in the Use of RemediesA. Life support may be withdrawn when …B. Ordinary vs. Extraordinary treatment

1. State of the patient vs. Start of the art of medicine2. Sulmasy: Adjectives “ordinary” & “extraordinary” modify one’s duty, not the machines or med. Tech.

Passive (death from impersonal forces)Passive usually designates the removing or withholding of

life-supporting treatment (such as antibiotics, transfusions, respirators, dialysis and the like, because no reasonable hope of recovery exists for the dying person) so that the patient ends up dead from something he or she already had (= allowing to die)

Active (death from personal forces)Active is when one person directly aims at the death of

himself or herself (if suicide) or another person, using means which directly bring this death about, so that the person ends up dead from something he or she was not originally suffering from (= directly killing)

Doctors play God when …

Life-support may be withdrawn when...

ProportionateProportionate

BeneficialBeneficial

UsefulUseful

RequiredRequired

DisproportionateDisproportionate

BurdensomeBurdensome

UselessUseless

OptionalOptional