End of Life Questions
| The dignity of a person must be recognized in every human being from conception to natural death. This fundamental principle expresses a great "yes" to human life and must be at the center of ethical reflection on biomedical research, which has an ever greater importance in today's world. The Church's Magisterium has frequently intervened to clarify and resolve moral questions in this area. (Dignitatis personae 1, Congregation for teh Doctrine of the Faith, 8 September 2008) |
Like morality at the beginning of life, morality at the end of life is dominated by the innate dignity of the human person and the obligation of both the natural and the divine law to not be the direct cause of the death of a innocent person. Each of us from conception to natural death possesses the right to life which no one, save God by His Provident timing of our death, may take from us--not least of all that every human being may have the opportunity for salvation.
This law requires that each person provides for their own health, spiritually and materially, according to their possibilities, while recognizing that all must die, and that in the end death is not a disaster, but may be embraced when it arrives, since for the just it leads to eternal life with God.
For this latter reason, the Church over time has developed moral norms to assist the faithful in determining what must, and what need not, be done to preserve life. Terms such Ordinary Means and Extraordinary Means are used to distinguish between what is morally obligatory (Ordinary Care) and what is not obliged (Extraordinary Care), even if in different circumstances it would be. These terms, therefore, do not coincide with those used in medicine, which generally follow approved standards of care, not the moral categories of the Church. Even the most “ordinary” medical care may be morally extraordinary for a particular person, in a particular set of circumstances, as the Church's teaching explains.
End of Life Decisions: Ordinary versus Extraordinary Means
Magisterial Documents
Pope John Paul II, 2004. To Congress on Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State.
