Posted on 03/27/2005 12:09:42 PM PST by Crackingham
The Terri Schiavo case, for all its legal and political wranglings, is also churning up spiritual questions, ones with particular relevance for Catholics during the holiest days of the church calendar this weekend.
The Roman Catholic Church has taken a strong stance in the saga of Schiavo, the brain-damaged woman whose parents are fighting to keep her alive. Her Catholic faith has been such an important issue in the case that a court ordered doctors to deliver the sacrament of Holy Communion through her feeding tube before it was removed March 18. Pope John Paul II has said feeding tubes are "morally obligatory" for most patients in vegetative states, and high-ranking cardinals have followed up by referring to Schiavo, saying that removing her feeding tube could lead to legalized euthanasia.
Theologians disagree about whether the pope is altering Catholic tradition, but there is consensus across the ideological spectrum that the Vatican's position in the Schiavo case has given Roman Catholics a new calculus for end-of-life decision making.
"This is the most authoritative statement we have to date," said Richard M. Doerflinger, vice president of the Pro-Life Secretariat of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and an opponent of ending Schiavo's feeding.
Before this case, before the pope's statement, even conservatives such as Doerflinger say there was enough of a debate about the Catholic position that a person could choose which side to take: continue or discontinue tube-feeding. But now the pope and the cardinals have made much more definitive statements that Doerflinger and his polar opposites agree seem to require Catholics to continue with tube-feeding, as long as it "provides nourishment" and "alleviates suffering."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
For 40 years. the "progressives" have been falling over themselves to embrace every trendy cause or movement to "update" the Church. Now, all of the sudden, I'm supposed to believe they've become traditionalists?
Terri Schiavo was being fed other ways from time to time. This was stopped by Michael Schiavo.
As usual, the Washington Post only considers facts it consider revelant, not the real facts of the case. If you want a file of horse manure, go to the Washington Post...
Ping to my #21. Thought you might find this article interesting.
Last I heard the Catholic church still agreed with Scripture in that adultery breaks the marriage bond.
If I am right then The Church would have had problem with
Michael calling himself her husband when he has had at least two women since his wife was hospitalized.The first in 1990. And I can't imagine the Church not standing firm
on the side of Life. Lastly there is the legal issue. It appears Judge Greer has been making law from th ebench for I have not seen where Floridal Law allows a person NOT convicted of any crime to be ordered to die a death that would not be allowed any dog-or convicted mass murderer in Florida.
Do you recall seeing anything about a State judge having the power to order the death of anyone simply because they are considered an inconvienence in your Bible. I am not Catholic but I detest anyone professing to be Christian
who defames the Catholic church.We do worship the same God
and our Holy Scriptures come from the same Manuscripts.
So you hav eth emorality that says we ought murder all the
people who we think are an inconvienence? -Seems Hitler shared that demonic morality.And he at least had the decency to off himself before he could be captured and
brought up on charges for his WAR crimes.
NAZI! NAZI! NAZI!
See my #15.
You obviously have not priced Nursing Homes in a while.
Florida Suncoast Hospice is a FOR PROFIT business that is overcharging Medicaid for patients and is using those Medicaid dollars to terminate life. That is ILLEGAL. Medicaid does not pay for Abortion and Medicaid does not pay for Euthanasia.
In the end, when all this is sorted out, Terri's death will have been needless, but there will be no way to bring her back.
The mission of the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) is to uphold the truth of the Catholic Faith in the science and practice of medicine. In July 2003, the CMA published a statement regarding the provision of artificial nutrition and hydration in the case of Mrs. Terri Schindler-Schiavo. The circumstances surrounding this case have been widely publicized. In 2003, after summarizing the ethical directives found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care, we concluded that based upon the current teaching of the Church the withdrawal of nutrition and hydration could not be justified. Two subsequent events compel us to update our former statement to uphold the truth and defend the life of Mrs. Schindler-Schiavo.
In March 2004, Pope John Paul II addressed an international congress of health care professionals convened in Rome to discuss the scientific advances and ethical dilemmas in the vegetative state. In the statement by the Vicar of Christ, “Life Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State,” he declares clearly and unequivocally that “the sick person in a vegetative state still has the right to basic health care…the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act…Its use furthermore, should be considered in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory…Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal. In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission.” This papal statement makes it absolutely clear that the withdrawal of food and water from Mrs. Schindler-Schiavo constitutes euthanasia, a gravely immoral act. We would add furthermore, that it represents a violation of her constitutionally protected right to life and a violation of her religious freedom as a Catholic.
Second, recently published data in the journal Neurology indicates that magnetic resonance imaging can be a very powerful tool in the evaluation of “awareness” in patients with severe neurological injury. The findings were so remarkable Dr. Joy Hirsch, director of the Functional MRI Research Center at Columbia University Medical School and an author of the study, said, “The most consequential thing about this is that we have opened a door, we have found an objective voice for these patients, which tells us they have some cognitive ability in a way they cannot tell us themselves. The patients are more human than we imagined in the past, and it is unconscionable not to aggressively pursue research efforts to evaluate them and develop therapeutic techniques.”These two events, the definitive papal statement and the scientific evidence of new diagnostic techniques required to adequately assess the severely brain injured patient, support our former conclusion in July 2003. There is no rational justification, moral or medical, to withdraw food and water from Mrs. Terri Schindler-Schiavo. Finally, we recognize that many will not agree with our conclusion. In a country that legally justifies the destruction of innocent human life in its most vulnerable stage of development, within the womb of the mother, it will come as no surprise that our courts have failed to defend her right to life. The darkness of death shrouds the conscience of America. Therefore, we conclude this statement by making a sincere appeal to all who do agree with us. Please join us in prayer on behalf of Terri, her family and our country; that by the Grace of Almighty God some intervention will save her life and save us from the inevitable consequences if she were euthanized.
http://www.cathmed.org/newsroom/newsreleases.html
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Terri Schindler-Schiavo cannot undergo a functional MRI, since she has an implanted metallic thalamic stimulator which would interact unfavorably (artifacts, energy and heat deposition, and movement in the rapidly oscillating electromagnetic field) in such a modality. She could have undergone PET scanning, which is used for assessment of relative levels of function of cerebral cortex in Alzheimer's disease. Her CT of 1996 showed (on a single slice presented) absent cortex in the occipital lobes, thinned cortex in the temporal lobes, and full cortex in the frontal lobes.
That's not correct. A feeding tube is an invasive procedure - it requires a surgical incision into the stomach. If there was any way she could swallow, she would never have had the tube. Hand feeding is actually easier than tube feeding.
And, BTW, since she can't swallow, if anyone had put water in her mouth, it would have wound up in her lungs.
Justice Kennedy might call this "Progressive"?
Ping.
I think the ones you refer to have a clue, all right. They just don't like it and want it to "evolve" -- you know like standards of decency in relation to the Constitution.
Where in the bible does it say you are allowed to drive a car?
Well, if 'contribution' to society determines society's obligation to you, then please forward a check to the USTreasury for ALL your share of the Pentagon/NSA/FBI budgets out there to protect just you, sweetie.
Next, cough up your share of your State/local police, etc., etc.
Outstanding riposte.
"Invasive" is not the criterion, besides which this surgery is minimally invasive.
The criterion is "burdensome" and ONLY when we are dealing with extension of a life which contradicts all scientific indications of "near" or "actual" death.
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