Directives said to help Catholic hospitals be 'schools of compassion'

Published: 2007-03-07

CHICAGO (CNS) -- If Catholic health providers truly take up the "moral commitments" contained in the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Health Care Services," their hospitals will be "schools of compassion" and "networks of support" for their patients, a gathering of Catholic ethicists was told Feb. 28. John Hardt, an assistant professor at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Health Policy at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine in Chicago, joined Dominican Father Kevin O'Rourke, a professor at the institute, in a presentation on the directives on the first day of a three-day conference on "Catholic Health Care Ethics: The Tradition and Contemporary Culture." The directives, most recently revised by the U.S. bishops in 2001, guide Catholic health care facilities in addressing a wide range of ethical questions, such as abortion, euthanasia, care for the poor, medical research, treatment of rape victims, surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization, prenatal testing, nutrition and hydration for the terminally ill and organ donation. Calling the directives a "carefully crafted synopsis of the moral commitments that mark us as Catholic," Hardt said the document describes "not only what we do but also the spirit in which it ought to be done."

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