HEALTH DECISIONS

Bishops outline moral aspects

BY KATE BLAIN
ASSISTANT EDITOR

For Catholics, the thought of advance directives can be confusing. People question whether it's morally acceptable to refuse medical treatment, and whether food and hydration are even considered "treatment."

Those questions are answered in the U.S. bishops' document, "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services." The bishops state:

* "We have a duty to preserve our life and to use it for the glory of God, but...we may reject life-prolonging procedures that are insufficiently beneficial or excessively burdensome. Suicide and euthanasia are never morally acceptable options."

* "Two extremes [are to be] avoided: on the one hand, an insistence on useless or burdensome technology even when a patient may legitimately wish to forgo it and, on the other hand, the withdrawal of technology with the intention of causing death."

* "Hydration and nutrition are not morally obligatory either when they bring no comfort to a person who is imminently dying or when they cannot be assimilated by a person's body."

* "The free and informed judgment made by a competent adult patient concerning the use or withdrawal of life-sustaining procedures should always be respected and normally complied with, unless it is contrary to Catholic moral teaching."

The bottom line, said the experts, is that "we don't know what tomorrow brings." Anyone can be injured or develop an illness at any time, and being prepared means decision-making is less burdensome for family and friends -- and that the patient's wishes will be honored.

(To read the U.S. bishops' healthcare directives in full, go to www.usccb.org/bishops/directives.htm.) (KB)