Criteria for Withholding or Withdrawing Treatment

In articulating these principles and presuppositions, I have adapted the set of such principles and presuppositions set forth by myself and others in “Feeding and Hydrating the Permanently Unconscious and Other Categories of Critically Ill Persons”, Issues in Law and Medicine 3 (Winter, 1987), pp. 203–211.

“The Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia”, issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1980, made this very clear when it declared that one form of killing the innocent, euthanasia, can be understood to be “an act or an omission which of itself or by intention causes death” (emphasis added), sect. II: reprinted in Moral Responsibility in Prolonging Life Decisions, ed. McCarthy Donald , and Moraczewski Albert , o.p., (St. Louis: Pope John XXIII Medical Moral Center, 1981), p. 290.

Pope John Paul II Apostolic Exhortation, “Familiaris Consortio”, n. 30.

Pius XII, Pope, “The Prolongation of Life: An Address to an International Congress of Anesthesiologists,” 1957, as reprinted in Death, Dying, and Euthanasia, ed. Horan Dennis , and Mall David (Frederick. MD: University Publications of America, 1980), p. 284.

“Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia”, sect. IV, in McCarthy-Moraczewski, p. 294.

“Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia”, sect. IV, in McCarthy-Moraczewski, p. 295.

“Vatican Declaration on Euthanasia”, sect. IV, in McCarthy-Moraczewski, p. 295.

McCormick S.J. , Richard A. “To Save or Let Die: The Dilemma of Modern Medicine,” “Journal of the American Medical Association 229 (1974) pp. 172–176: America 130 (July 7, 1974) 6-10; reprinted in McCormick's How Brave a New World? Dilemmas in Bioethics (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981), pp. 339-351, and “The Quality of Life, the Sanctity of Life.” Hastings Center Report 8.1 (1978) 30-36: reprinted in How Brave a New World?, pp. 383-401. Subsequent references will be to the essays as found in How Brave a New World?.

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 345.

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 345

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 345

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 346.

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 349.

“To Save or Let Die,” in How Brave a New World?, p. 347.

O'Rourke , Kevin O.P. “Evolution of Church Teaching on the Prolongation of Life,” Health Progress (January-February, 1988) pp. 28–35, at 32.

Schindler Thomas F. , S.S. “Implications of Prolonging Life,” Health Progress (April, 1988) 12.

O'Rourke has developed his interpretation of Pius Xll's statement in numerous essays, among which one of the most influential is “The A.M.A. Statement on Tubal Feeding: An Ethical Analysis,” America (Nov. 22, 1988) pp. 321-323, an essay that the Society for the Right to Die, an advocacy group for legalizing euthanasia subsequently saw fit to reprint in its newsletter. See also Richard M. , Gula S.S. “Quality of Life: A Focus on the Patient's Total Good,” Health Progress (July-August, 1988) pp. 34–39, 84.

Grisez Germain , and Boyle Joseph Life and Death with Liberty and Justice: A Contribution to the Euthanasia Debate (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1978), p. 260.

Life and Death with Liberty and Justice: A Contribution to the Euthanasia Debate., pp. 268–269.

Connery S.J. , John R. “Prolonging Life: Its Duty and Its Limits.” in McCarthy-Moraczewski, p. 133.