The following comes from a Jan. 22 story by Wesley Smith on LifeSiteNews, originally published in National Review.
Immoral bioethical policies and practices advance toward implementation through discourse–first in professional journals, and then in elite popular media columns.
That process is now gearing up regarding what I call “VSED-by-Proxy.”
VSED stands for “voluntary stopping eating and drinking”–suicide by self-starvation–pushed for the elderly and others by those compaaaaa–ssssss–ionate death zealots at the Hemlock Society Compassion and Choices.
But what about mentally incompetent residents of nursing homes who willingly eat, but who years previously stated in an advance medical directive that they wanted to be made dead by starvation under such circumstances?
We see increasing advocacy in bioethics that nursing homes be required to starve such patients to death–even if they are then happy, even if they willingly eat, and even, one supposes, if they ask for food. In other words, the idea is that the demented patient is incompetent to decide to eat if he had earlier directed that he be starved to death!
And now VSED-by-Proxy has been validated by respectful reportage in the New York Times. From, “Complexities of Choosing an End Game for Dementia,” by Paula Span:
“Jerome Medalie keeps his advance directive hanging in a plastic sleeve in his front hall closet, as his retirement community recommends. That’s where the paramedics will look if someone calls 911. Like many such documents, it declares that if he is terminally ill, he declines cardiopulmonary resuscitation, a ventilator and a feeding tube.
“But Mr. Medalie’s directive also specifies something more unusual: If he develops Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, he refuses ‘ordinary means of nutrition and hydration.’
“A retired lawyer with a proclivity for precision, he has listed 10 triggering conditions, including ‘I cannot recognize my loved ones’ and ‘I cannot articulate coherent thoughts and sentences.’ If any three such disabilities persist for several weeks, he wants his health care proxy — his wife, Beth Lowd — to ensure that nobody tries to keep him alive by spoonfeeding or offering him liquids.”
This is an extremely dangerous culture of death aggression because it would erase the boundary between medical treatment that can be refused–and basic humane care, no different ethically from turning a patient to prevent bed sores or providing hygiene–which all patients are required to receive regardless of their condition.
Just as an advance directive instructing that a patient not be kept clean should be disregarded, so too should an order to starve the patient who willingly eats.
This too is important: VSED is suicide. Legally requiring nursing homes to commit VSED-by-proxy would be forcing them to kill—and to kill cruelly. A legal regimen that forced medical personnel to assist a patient’s suicide by starvation would drive many doctors and nurses out of medicine….
And what is Gomez’s “OneLife LA” going to do about the law that CA Democrats intend to pass in CA this year regarding euthanasia ?
How is his “OneLife LA” educating Catholics regarding euthanasia;
regarding voting for evil politicians ?
Why didn’t his “OneLife LA” start educating against the EVIL in the 2014 CA DEMOCRATIC PARTY PLATFORM in a timely manner ? This was passed on March 11, 2014.
Oh I forgot these are not Gomez’s Staff’s’ priority compared to ILLEGAL immigration.
Gomez was born in Mexico. If he wants to work mostly with Mexicans, he should ask for a transfer to Mexico.
Americans need a Bishop in LA who teaches according to the “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition”.
Btw Gomez uses the name of the CCC in his speeches, yet he only picks and chooses certain sentences rather than entire paragraphs which changes the meaning.
Get your own copies of the CCC out there, folks. There are too many wolves in sheeps’ clothing.
Why not, Bishop Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg, FL Diocese teaches that its OK to starve Terri Schiavo, provided it is the wishes of the family.
Just one Bishop who condones mortal sin.
Read your CCC to find out if you have a good Bishop or an evil Bishop. It’s difficult to know who can and can not be trusted these days.
There are wolves in sheeps’ clothing right here in the USA.
If you have a good Bishop who adheres to Sacred Scripture and the CCC in entirety, thank God daily.
Unborn children can be killed legally, thanks to Roe V. Wade. Now the bioethicists are trying to find ways kill people at the other end of life, the elderly, sick and disabled. Why do they call themselves bioethicists, when there is no ethics in what they are doing? Trying to find new ways to kill people seems to be a preoccupation with them, or maybe it’s their only occupation. These people have the same moral values as the mafia.
Obamacare and other FORCED government run health care programs will eventually support euthanasia to get rid of those whose health care is costly and whom they personally define as not productive in Society – the elderly, the handicapped, the mentally ill. (Just like the Nazi’s.)
Democrats must be stopped. Where are the California Bishops ?
Why are they not teaching ?
The same moral values as the Nazi’s who systematically got rid of the handicapped, the elderly, and the mentally ill.
If left unchecked, OBAMACARE – FORCED GOVERNMENT health care will do the same in the future.
National Right to Life has a form called the Will to Live in which a patient can go into much more detail on how they wish to be treated.
https://www.nrlc.org/medethics/willtolive/qawtl/
In addition, all Catholics should read: “Catechism of the Catholic Church, second edition” (1997) regarding:
Euthanasia and appropriate palliative care which includes pain care:
CCC 2276 – 2279.
Make these Church teachings part of your legal documents for end of life treatment.
Once you let the doctors and lawyers kill your parents you quickly become like Holland and get to keep the money too!
See:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2430479/One-thirty-deaths-Holland-euthanasia-choosing-end-lives-cancer.html
Let’s forcibly starve all abortionists, instead!
The people in Holland know better than to hospitalize their loved ones without constant supervision on their part. In fact, most would keep their loved one at home because they mysteriously die in the night once the family member has gone home to rest. Is America heading for similar circumstances? I remember hearing my father scream in pain while the nurse spoke to the doctor on the phone telling him that my dad was resting comfortably. Hmmm. Pain medicine was too costly for his Alzheimer’s conditon? Don’t trust these folks. Simply don’t trust them to be ethical.
I’ve been a 24/7 caregiver, having watched my wife succumb to Alzheimer’s. During this period, I gave up my own life entirely. I would never, ever want a loved one of mine to go through the horrors I’ve endured. If some form of VSED is desired during the person’s competent years, we should find a way to honor their wish.