More on Tube Feedings

Two very good articles on Tube feedings can be found here and here.

The first:

On Basic Care For Patients In The 'Vegetative' State
A Response to Dr. Hardt and Fr. O'Rourke

BY  CARDINAL JUSTIN F. RIGALI, JCD, & BISHOP WILLIAM E. LORI, STD
Cardinal Rigali is archbishop of Philadelphia and chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB); and Bishop Lori is bishop of Bridgeport , Conn. , and chairman of the Committee on Doctrine, USCCB.

In a 2004 address on care for patients diagnosed as being in a "vegetative state," Pope John Paul II affirmed the human dignity of these patients and the obligation to provide them with ordinary care, including food and water, even with artificial assistance. On Sept. 14, 2007, through its "Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration," the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI, reaffirmed and further explained this papal teaching. (The CDF's "Responses" was accompanied by a "Commentary," which offered further explanation.) The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has welcomed this important clarification of Catholic Church teaching and has provided its own set of questions and answers to promote a better understanding of it in the United States. ¹

Unfortunately, confusion about this teaching and opposition to some aspects of it persist in some quarters. For example, a recent Health Progress article by John J. Hardt, Ph.D. and Fr. Kevin D. O'Rourke, OP, JCD, STM, titled, "Nutrition and Hydration: The CDF Response, In Perspective," misinterprets the Holy See's documents in important respects, and even makes the charge that the CDF interprets euthanasia in a way that is "at odds with the traditional teaching of moral theology." ²

As chairmen of the U.S. Bishops' Committees on Doctrine and on Pro-Life Activities, we offer the following points to prevent misunderstanding and to help those involved in Catholic health care ministry more fully understand the church's teaching.

The authors then go on to list SIX disagreements with John J Hardt and Fr O'Rourke, saying that there are other areas as well... to read those six (the rest of the article) go here.

The second:

A Pope's Teaching Closes A Loop

BY  FR. RUSSELL SMITH, STD
Fr. Smith is senior director, ethics, Catholic Health Association, St. Louis.

The papal allocution of 2004 regarding tube feeding does not contradict the teaching of Pope Pius XII, but rather compliments it by closing a loop that completes a doctrine about the dignity of human life and appropriate medical treatment. Pius XII addressed himself to this by considering invasive measures of resuscitation to save a life and John Paul II did so by rejecting measures used to terminate life.

Since Aristotle, the moral act is said to be composed of three essential elements: the end (or purpose), the object (the action) and the circumstances. Most of us who study the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means do so with the understanding that the distinction hinges on the circumstances of a given case. And those who recognize the evil of euthanasia realize that intentions and actions directed at the termination of life (as opposed to the question of termination of treatment) confine our consideration to this third font of morality, circumstances.

This article ends with:

So, the dignity of human life has been addressed on two fronts. Pope Pius XII defends life's dignity in light of aggressive attempts to preserve life. Pope John Paul II does so in light of attempts to legitimize of all means of preserving life precisely to achieve the death of the patient.

There is NO QUESTION that Nutrition and water via Tube feeding is NOT extraordinary means, and should NOT be stopped to end a life.

God bless!