Catholic leaders welcome Vatican documents on artificial nutrition

Published: 2007-09-17

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic health care and ethical groups thanked the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for clarifying its stand on artificial nutrition and hydration for patients in a persistent vegetative state in a pair of Sept. 14 documents. "The Catholic health ministry is grateful for the clarification provided today," said Sister Carol Keehan, a Daughter of Charity who is president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, in a Sept. 14 statement. "Patients in a persistent vegetative state, while making up a very small percent of all patients, pose some of the most challenging and heart-wrenching situations for families and caregivers," she added. "This clarification affirms the church's belief in the value of their lives in spite of the circumstances of their condition." The Vatican's responses to two questions posed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and its commentary on those responses "provide a clear rejection of the claim of certain theologians that the provision of food and water for patients in the persistent vegetative state is not morally obligatory," said the Philadelphia-based National Catholic Bioethics Center in a Sept. 14 statement.

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