Am I in mortal sin by following directions and turning off life support?

  • Thread starter Thread starter FishDuck
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
F

FishDuck

Guest
I am Catholic and my parents are not, but they have named me their Health Care Representative. They have written up an excellent directive in conformity with our state that attaches a definition for their “basic necessities of life”. When this definition in no longer met, (can’t recognize family,communicate, understand what is occuring around them,etc) they have determined time periods to pass…of which then I am to direct the discontinuance of life support and tube feeding/hydration.

The catagory that has me hung up is “permanently unconscious” or the vegetative state that we all refer to. After 90 days of being unconscious (they are 82 & 83) I am instructed in the Directive to discontinue all life support and tube feeding/hydration.

The doctor is the one who actually “turns off” the machines, but he’s thinking that “he’s following orders” from me. I, on the other hand, am thinking that I am following orders, since if they were able…they would reach up and turn off the machines themselves. I am simply following their instructions and adhering to their beliefs and wishes. Yet Hitler’s concentration camp guards also claimed that they were just following instructions.

I have already done extensive research and know what the Catechism says, (#2277-79) as well as the Pope’s address in March 2004 to physicians on this topic in addition to Evangelium Vitae…the huge question is…if I’m following their instructions, but turning off life support that initiates death…am I in mortal sin?

FishDuck
 
My understanding of Church teaching is that it is OK to remove life support from someone – that is respirators, heart-lung machines, dialysis, etc. It is not alright to remove hydration and nutrition, however, unless doing so causes more health problems (say, for instance, the end stages of stomach cancer).

Check out the information at Priests for Life:

priestsforlife.org/euthanasia/euthanasia.html
 
Dear Fishduck: I feel very sorry for you in your predicament. Well, you know what the Church teaches on this subject but more importantly, you know your own heart on this one.

Speak to a Priest as soon as possible. Your own Parish Priest is good, they know you best. But also/or instead; a Priest who has some special knowledge of these issues - maybe a Hospice Chaplain or someone grounded in moral theology issues.

I would pray for courage and wisdom because you will need to go against your parents desires. You absolutely HAVE to speak to them both, now, this very weekend if possible while they are alive and competent. You have to tell them that you cannot do this because it imperils your Soul. You have to ask them to release you from this promise. Absolutely. Further, you must give them your reasons, the teachings of the Church, and try and persuade them that what they are contemplating imperils THEIR souls also. You must do everything you can to dissuade them from this course of action. Pray for them (i am sure you do anyway).

I fear that Didi is wrong on this and your reading of the Catechism tells you different. This is a correct interpretation.
 
you cannot answer that now, until your parent is actually at the point of dying or gravely ill. no document can cover all the possible situaitons and ramifications that might arise.

that is why the value of living wills or advanced directives is limited. in addition you need a valid health care power of attorney, because the decisions you may actually have to make may not be covered in the advanced directive. get legal advice.
 
If you don’t feel this has been answered in as much detail as you would like post on the Ask an Apologist forum.

matt
 
You might also want to visit the site of the National Catholic Bioethics Center

I agree with Annie that living wills and advance directives are too limiting, and may tend to lock you into actions that are not the best for the individual patient at the time. Each decision has to be made individually based on the circumstances.
 
Easy.

Tell them you can withhold treatment, but not food and water. You cannot obey them so if you are in charge, you will not give the order to disconnect nutrition and hydration.

If they aren’t OK with that, then they need to assign someone else to do it.

Maybe since you’ll obey it 99% of the time, they won’t worry about it.

My own father said no medical treatment, but don’t starve him or let him be in great pain. Keep him fed and with pain control. The decision would start with my mom, and if unwilling or unable then my older brother, then it went to me. That made a lot of sense to me after I thought about it. As it turns out, we didn’t have to make that decision.

Chances are this situation will not happen. You can choose to “hope” it doesn’t, if you can’t talk to your parents about it. Either way, you just can’t take away their nutrition, I wouldn’t think.

Alan
 
I’m pretty sure starving someone is serious enough for mortal sin.

If it is, in fact, evil – and I suspect the Church does teach that it is – then if you agree in advance to do it, and then carry through with it, I rather suspect it would be mortal because you know it is wrong and predetermined to do it anyway.

What does anybody think about not saying anything and then simply not follow the orders come time you might need to?

Alan
 
40.png
AlanFromWichita:
I’m pretty sure starving someone is serious enough for mortal sin.
What does anybody think about not saying anything and then simply not follow the orders come time you might need to?
Alan
Click to expand...
Not good. The odds are the problem won’t come up, but parents need to be informed in advance so they don’t think they have the situation covered when their representative has no intention of doing as they ask.
But probably they haven’t thought this through. If being starved and dehydrated is painful, they might want to pass on it. They should leave the final decisions to their health care administrator, someone they trust.
Anyway, who’s to decide they don’t know what’s going on around them? People have said they knew everything but were unable to communicate.
 
it is not a situation where I can say I will follow your orders…and don’t. I have FIVE other non-catholic siblings and there has already been rumblings that I may not follow the instructions given. The challenge is that my parents selected me because they felt that I WOULD carry out their wishes. Their concern is that treatment would occur from a majority vote in the hospital hallway by the children,…hence disregarding his/her wishes. The other challenge is that the others are timid, if not reluctant to carry out the wishes, thus all the advance planning would give way to the majority votes in the hallway.

I have spoken to some health care practicians in the last 24 hours, and they said that HEARING is the LAST thing to go. Usually, they can hear you discuss their death, and while in a coma-semicoma cannot communicate back.

FishDuck
 
40.png
FishDuck:
it is not a situation where I can say I will follow your orders…and don’t. I have FIVE other non-catholic siblings and there has already been rumblings that I may not follow the instructions given. The challenge is that my parents selected me because they felt that I WOULD carry out their wishes.
Click to expand...
If following their wishes means you would commit the mortal sin of intentional euthanasia, you have an obligation to explain this to them. Should they wish to leave the instructions as written, at the very least they should also amend their instructions to make it crystal-clear in writing that the final call is yours, not your siblings’. That way, if you are faced with the situation and choose life instead, you will be able to enforce your choice. The only consolation I have to offer here is that, at their ages, a so-called vegetative state would not likely last long.
40.png
FishDuck:
I have spoken to some health care practicians in the last 24 hours, and they said that HEARING is the LAST thing to go. Usually, they can hear you discuss their death, and while in a coma-semicoma cannot communicate back.
Click to expand...
When my daughter is sleeping lightly and I talk to her she nods, smiles, moves on command, and even answers me. But in the morning she usually does not remember any of it.

My father recently passed home to the Lord. During his last two days all his children gathered at his bedside. I know he heard us. I hope he consciously understood us. Although now, even though he can’t answer in the way he used to, I’m sure he again consciously understands us.
 
Hopefully not in the hallway. Hospitals are a little more sensitive than that nowadays.
Unfortunately or otherwise, relatives have more clout than advance directives, since relatives can sue.
That is why it’s imperative to fully discuss this with your parents beforehand, so that you’re all on the same page. It’s impossible for an advance directive to cover all the situations that might come up, so it’s important for them to have a representative that they trust.
It sounds like they’re asking you to withhold food and fluids in case the quality of their lives decreases. As you know from your reading, that’s tantamount to suicide, from the Catholic perspective.
Your question is, is this a sin if you’re following their directions? It seems obvious that it is: if your father handed you a gun and told you to shoot him, you couldn’t do it. You’d try to talk him out of it.

Catholics assume that our lives have purpose. If someone is unconscious for a long period, we assume that there’s a reason for it. Maybe unfinished business by the family, who knows? It’s not our perogative to cut that process short. That’s why we can turn off life support, because that’s an extraordinary measure, but not withhold normal care like nutrition and fluids.
Your parents are fortunate to have a son who is so concerned.
 
Nan S:
My father recently passed home to the Lord. During his last two days all his children gathered at his bedside. I know he heard us. I hope he consciously understood us. Although now, even though he can’t answer in the way he used to, I’m sure he again consciously understands us.
Click to expand...
One should never speak in front of another human being as if they weren’t there. It is disrespectful, in addition to opening the chance that they can hear you, either consciously or in spirit. The latter is important to me, because I’ve seen people go down the hall and have a big discussion, sometimes just barely out of hearing range, then come back into the room like nothing is wrong, when really it is written on their faces.

Also when I was young and a volunteer in the hospital, I hung around a lot with the pathologist, with whom I spent time doing photography darkroom work in the morgue. He told me that according to medical ethics, they were supposed to watch their language even around a dead body – I guess the PC term now is “human remains.”

Alan
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top