VATICAN CORNER
On August 11, 2017, Pope Francis ordered the Belgian Brothers of Charity, a Catholic Charity Group, to stop offering euthanasia in its psychiatric hospitals. Euthanasia is the intentional painless killing of a patient who is suffering from an incurable and painful disease or who is in an irreversible coma. Some methods used in euthanasia are lethal injection or withholding food and water. Euthanasia has been made legal in Belgium, and in May the Brothers of Charity Group which administers the Belgian hospitals announced it would allow doctors to perform euthanasia on psychiatric patients. Euthanasia is also known as mercy kill and although it is intended to end a patients suffering, it is a killing, and is an immoral action for Catholics who hold sacred both the dignity of each individual person and the gift of life. To make an attempt on someone’s life or to kill an innocent persons is an evil action. Each person is bound to lead his life in accord with God’s plan and with an openness to His will, looking to life’s fulfillment in heaven. Intentionally committing suicide is also a murder of oneself and is a rejection of God’s plan. For these reasons, the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s condemned “all offenses against life itself, such as murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia and willful suicide. Given these principles, Catholics believe each person is bound to use ordinary means of caring for personal health, such as proper nourishment food and water – and ordinary medical care. Ordinary means those actions that would offer reasonable hope of benefit and are not unduly burdensome to either the patient or the family. A person may use extra ordinary means of medical care but is not bound to do so. Today however, what exactly constitutes extra ordinary medical care is increasingly difficult to determine. An artificial heart is still considered extra ordinary, but the use of respirators and ventilators is now a common procedure used for recovery. The question to be answered is: Does the treatment provide reasonable hope of benefit to the patient. Some items to be considered when deciding on treatment are: the patient’s state of health, the amount of burden on the patient and family, the complexity, the risk, the cost, the accessibility of the care. The amount of pain and suffering from the treatment needs to be weighed against the good to be done. The stopping of extra ordinary health care is not the same thing as euthanasia. The patient or guardian for unconscious patients has the right to reject or discontinue extra ordinary procedures. Such a decision is appropriate when death is clearly imminent. In such cases, the person would place himself in God’s hand and prepare to leave this life, while continuing ordinary means of health care. Pope Francis’ letter to the Belgian Brothers of Charity gave them until the end of August to stop the practice of euthanasia in their 15 healthcare centers. He ordered those on the group’s board of directors to sign a joint letter declaring that they fully support the principles of the Catholic Church and that human life must be respected and protected in absolute terms, from the moment of conception till its natural end. Any brothers who refuse to sign the letter will face sanctions under canon law and the charity group can expect to face legal action and even expulsion from the Church if it fails to change its policy.
Sources: news.va, catholicculture.org