Fr Z has the text in Latin and English in parallel columns. The key texts:
The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented.and
A patient in a "permanent vegetative state" is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means.
1 comment:
It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented.[emphasis mine]
Thanks for publicising this, father. It's an important and careful clarification. It puts the emphasis on clinicians to demonstrate when a treatment becomes futile. They must demonstrate that they have done all they can to promote life until such time as natural death supervenes.
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