Catholic position on living wills sometimes misunderstood

Published: 2003-11-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In the case of Terri Schindler Schiavo, there is very little on which the Florida Catholic bishops and "right-to-die" attorney George J. Felos would agree. But both have said the case of the comatose Florida woman who has been at the center of a major legal battle over whether she should remain on the feeding tube that keeps her alive points up the need for every person -- young and old, healthy or ill -- to talk to their relatives and health care providers about the kind of care they would want at the end of their lives. Among Catholics, there is a common perception that living wills are frowned upon or prohibited by the church, said Father Michael Gutgsell, moderator of the curia for the Archdiocese of Omaha, Neb., and pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Fort Calhoun. "That is not true," he told The Catholic Voice, Omaha archdiocesan newspaper. "There are two critical considerations. We are obliged ... to take those necessary steps to preserve life or to protect life. We are not obliged to take heroic steps ... (and) care and pain management may never be ceased." A living will addresses treatment options a person wants omitted or performed on his or her behalf. But because unexpected circumstances may arise that are not specifically addressed in the living will, Catholics can also designate someone to exercise durable power of attorney for health care decisions.

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