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What to do about living wills?


Toronto -- At the meeting of the lay organization Witness at St. Monica's parish, on September 17, Catholic lawyer Geoff Cauchi delivered a brilliant address on the subject of living wills and power of attorney for personal care. He warned that living wills might give a green light to euthanasia
1. an easy or painless death.
2. mercy killing; the deliberate ending of life of a person suffering from an incurable disease.


eu·tha·na·sia (y
.

Catholics must use all ordinary means of care and both suicide and euthanasia are morally forbidden. Cauchi explained the Catholic teaching on how to judge whether a treatment is ordinary or extraordinary. Ordinary treatment must not be stopped.

On March 20, 2004, Pope John Paul II, in an address to participants in the International Congress on Life Sustaining Treatments taught that artificial nutrition and hydration
1. The addition of water to a chemical molecule without hydrolysis.
2. The process of providing an adequate amount of liquid to bodily tissues.
 (ANH ANH - A New Hope
ANH - A New Hope (aka Star Wars Episode 4)
ANH - Academia Nacional de la Historia (República Argentina)
ANH - Access Node Hub
ANH - Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos (Colombia)
ANH - Alliance for Natural Health
ANH - Anhang (German: Appendix; used in designating Beethoven's music)
) is not medical treatment but basic care whose purpose is nourishment. He stated that it should be provided to patients in a persistent vegetative state persistent vegetative
1. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of plants.
2. concerned with growth and nutrition, as opposed to reproduction.
3. of or pertaining to asexual reproduction, as by budding or fission.
4. functioning involuntarily or unconsciously.
5. resting; denoting the portion of a cell cycle during which the cell is not replicating.
 state:
 see under coma, in medicine.
, but that in a particular case, hydration and nutrition may be extraordinary and disproportionate, and therefore, morally optional. Unfortunately, many Catholic theologians and bioethicists have misled Catholics, suggesting that ANH may be refused, withdrawn, or withheld if a patient is cognitively impaired.

Mr. Cauchi advises that in writing a combined power of attorney
Power of Attorney
A legal document giving one person (called an "agent" or "attorney-in-fact") the power to act for another person (the principal). The agent can have broad legal authority or limited authority to make legal decisions about the principal's property and finance. The power of attorney is frequently used in the event of a principal's illness or disability, or when the principal can't be present to sign necessary legal documents for financial
 for continuing care and advanced directives, one should resort to written wishes to receive food and water by whatever means until they can no longer be assimilated.

One should avoid statements that could be misinterpreted as permission to withhold or withdraw treatment or nutrition/hydration. One should state one's Catholic values and beliefs and declare full consent to Church teaching, including that on ANH. One should specifically reject "futile care theory." One should also reject the use of a "best interest test," which could reject treatments because they were deemed not consistent with the patient's "best interest" or "well being" or "quality of life."

"Futile care theory" holds that patient autonomy is limited to the right to refuse treatment, and that medical care can be denied regardless of a patient's wishes. It further holds that the physician is not obligated to give the patient or the attorney the option of agreeing with, or disagreeing with, the physician's futile care decision.

For details of Mr. Cauchi's recommendations, contact: Alliance for Life Ontario, 22 Cork St. Suite 205, Guelph, ON, N1H 2W7. Tel: (519) 824 7797.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Catholic Insight
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Copyright 2005, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.

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Title Annotation:Canada
Publication:Catholic Insight
Geographic Code:1CONT
Date:Nov 1, 2005
Words:377
Previous Article:"Death with dignity" bill introduced.(Canada)
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