Catholic hospitals are reassuring patients they'll honour living wills in the wake of a papal pronouncement that hospitals should never remove feeding tubes from patients in persistent vegetative states. Pope John Paul II said last month that feeding and hydrating such patients is "morally obligatory" - and that withdrawing feeding tubes constitutes "euthanasia by omission". Since then, US bishops, theologians and ethicists have been studying the issue closely to see what the pope's words will mean for hospital operations in the United States. For now, many hospitals are deferring to the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services"...