What are they saying about

Artificially Administered Nutrition and Hydration

Conflicting Opinions

• A society will be judged on how it treats those in the dawn of life, those in the twilight of life, and those in the Shadow of life.

• Senator Hubert Humphrey

• source: http://prolife.ath.cx:8000/plae107.htm

• They are dictating how medicine should be practiced. You know the court is dominated by religion …’Life is sanctity, this and that..’ The problem with medicine today is that it’s under the Dark Age mentality of mystical religion, which has permeated medicine to the core since Christianity took over

• Jack Kevorkian

AANH• Will look at the positions

of Robert Barry, William May, and John Connery– Catholic Moral

Theologians

• All three look at thew idea of “quality of life” decisions and their morality.

• Also address the question of whether administration of food and water is treatment at all

John Connery

• Addresses the question of how to determine what treatments are obligatory and which are not

• proportionate vs. disproportionate

• Believes problems arise when we include patient’s quality of life

• Connery believes we must evaluate the quality of the means of treatment rather than the perceived quality of life

• The quality of treatment and the quality of life are not the same thing

Connery

• Uses case studies to illustrate

• Clarence Herbert- 55 year old man who stopped breathing after routine surgery, removed from respirator after two days, food and water removed two days later

• Claire Conroy - severe physical and mental disabilities- fed by means of NG tube

• Question of whether it was permissible to remove feeding these two cases

William May• Life is a good of the

person, not for the person

• Never instrumental to intentionally bring about death of an innocent person -even if in the name of “mercy”

• Nutrition and hydration required unless shown to be burdensome

• Again, must be sure we are evaluating means of treatment and not quality of life

May• Cites statement of Penn.

Bishops- those in PVS “not in the process of dying”

• If a person is not terminal, food and water are to be provided as they are beneficial

• Disagrees with statement of Texas Bishops

• believed it was basically a quality of life criteria which could also be applied to many conscious people

May• All decision, including

those of a proxy, must be in line with Catholic Moral teaching

• Must consider three areas

• Patient’s intentions and values

• best interests of the patient

• patient’s wishes

• Life must not be easily ruled burdensome

Robert Barry

• Can at times be acceptable to remove feeding tube, but never with the intention of bringing about death

• Asks three main questions

• Is it acceptable to withdraw feeding so this is the main cause of death?

• Can those with low quality of life be allowed to starve?

• Should feeding be considered medical treatment?

Barry• As food an nutrition is

necessary for life, never acceptable to remove if this will be the main cause of death– same as direct killing

– Principle of Double Effect

• Allowing starvation would seem to be a quality of life decision

• again, these criteria can also be applied to the non comatose

Barry

• On the question of whether nutrition and hydration should be considered medical treatment, Barry appeals to teaching of past moral theologians

• Aquinas- draws distinction between treatment and food and water

• Francisco Vitoria- common food must be accepted, also sees difference between food and water and medical treatment

Barry• Believes it is quite straight

forward

• If nutrition and hydration are medical treatments, what do they treat?

• Alternate definition of treatment

• “food and water are basic resources of the body and are not therapeutic measures. They are used by every cell, organ, and system in the body to sustain its natural functions”

Barry

• The provision of food and water to those in need is not just a medical question; it is a matter of justice and those who are able to provide food for those who need it obligated to do so.

• Teri Schiavo video

• Terri Schivao video 2

Questions about Medically Assisted Nutrition and Hydration

• Some basic questions about AANH

• Moral Principles in end of life decisions

Conclusion• These are obviously

difficult decisions

• To consider the quality of life seems a common inclination

• We don’t like to see others, especially those near to us suffering