40. THE QUESTION WAS:

What did Pope John Paul II say about withholding water and food from a person?

  1. It’s ok if the person is in a vegetative state
  2. It’s gravely immoral if the person is in a vegetative state and is not otherwise dying

 

    

THE ANSWER IS…B…It is gravely immoral to withhold nutrition and hydration from a person in a vegetative state who is not dying.

             To deny someone this basic human sustenance would be to kill someone, he said.

Providing water and food, even through an artificial tube, is a basic human expectation and is not considered a medical treatment.

The pope emphasized the intrinsic value and dignity of a human being, saying this value does not change with changing health.

 

 

FOOD AND WATER

http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/mar/04032001.html (Pope Ends Debate Over Nutrition & Hydration for Patients in Vegetative State)

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2004/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040320_congress-fiamc_en.html (WORDS OF THE POPE)

http://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=28436 (Pope Condemns Euthanasia of Vegetative Patients)

http://www.catholicherald.com/cns/cns04/patients.htm (Must get Nutrition and Hydration as long as possible)

http://www.ncbcenter.org/press/04-04-23-NCBCStatementonNutritionandHydration.html (National Catholic Bioethics Center)

http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=5921 (Persons in Coma Deserve Special Care)

 

 

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