Denial of Life-Sustaining Care

BASIC CARE, HUMAN DIGNITY, AND CARE FOR MEDICALLY VULNERABLE PERSONS

Physical and cognitive disability should not mean one’s situation is considered “end of life,” yet too many persons who are not dying are described this way. Earlier this year, Oregon’s state legislature considered a bill that would have increased the number of medically vulnerable persons at risk of an untimely death. Oregon’s SB 494 would …

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TERRI SCHIAVO, THE BRAIN INJURED AND CHURCH TEACHING

The Catholic teaching is clear: “The ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted.” (CCC 2279) Two Jesuit priests, Father John J. Paris, a professor emeritus at Boston College, and Father Kevin Wildes, a professor at St. Joseph’s University, recently published an article, “Making an idol of brain-injured patients.” The priests were …

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SCHINDLER: MY SISTER TERRI SCHIAVO WAS ALIVE LIKE JAHI MCMATH

Much has been written about Jahi McMath in recent days. The 13-year-old Oakland, California girl underwent surgery December 9, 2013 to remove her tonsils. She was declared “brain-dead” after going into cardiac arrest. Since that time, experts have opined on the ethics of the brain-death declaration, the family’s decision to transfer her to another facility, …

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