Medical Care At The End Of Life: A Catholic Perspective
by David Kelly /
2006 / English / PDF
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For over thirty years, David F. Kelly has worked with medical
practitioners, students, families, and the sick and dying to
confront the difficult and often painful issues that concern
medical treatment at the end of life. In this short and practical
book, Kelly shares his vast experience, providing a rich resource
for thinking about life's most painful decisions.
For over thirty years, David F. Kelly has worked with medical
practitioners, students, families, and the sick and dying to
confront the difficult and often painful issues that concern
medical treatment at the end of life. In this short and practical
book, Kelly shares his vast experience, providing a rich resource
for thinking about life's most painful decisions.
Kelly outlines eight major issues regarding end-of-life care as
seen through the lens of the Catholic medical ethics tradition. He
looks at the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means;
the difference between killing and allowing to die; criteria of
patient competence; what to do in the case of incompetent patients;
the meaning and use of advance directives; the morality of
hydration and nutrition; physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia;
and medical futility. Kelly's analysis is sprinkled with
significant legal decisions and, throughout, elaborations on how
the Catholic medical ethics tradition―as well as teachings of
bishops and popes―understands each issue. He provides a helpful
glossary to supplement his introduction to the terminology used by
philosophical health care ethics. Included in Kelly's discussion is
his lucid description of why the Catholic tradition supports the
discontinuation of medical care in the Terry Schiavo case. He also
explores John Paul II's controversial papal allocution concerning
hydration and nutrition for unconscious patients, arguing that the
Catholic tradition does not require feeding the permanently
unconscious.
Kelly outlines eight major issues regarding end-of-life care as
seen through the lens of the Catholic medical ethics tradition. He
looks at the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means;
the difference between killing and allowing to die; criteria of
patient competence; what to do in the case of incompetent patients;
the meaning and use of advance directives; the morality of
hydration and nutrition; physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia;
and medical futility. Kelly's analysis is sprinkled with
significant legal decisions and, throughout, elaborations on how
the Catholic medical ethics tradition―as well as teachings of
bishops and popes―understands each issue. He provides a helpful
glossary to supplement his introduction to the terminology used by
philosophical health care ethics. Included in Kelly's discussion is
his lucid description of why the Catholic tradition supports the
discontinuation of medical care in the Terry Schiavo case. He also
explores John Paul II's controversial papal allocution concerning
hydration and nutrition for unconscious patients, arguing that the
Catholic tradition does not require feeding the permanently
unconscious.Medical Care at the End of Life
Medical Care at the End of Life addresses the major issues
that inform this last stage of caregiving. It offers a critical
guide to understanding the medical ethics and relevant legal cases
needed for clear thinking when individuals are faced with those
crucial decisions.
addresses the major issues
that inform this last stage of caregiving. It offers a critical
guide to understanding the medical ethics and relevant legal cases
needed for clear thinking when individuals are faced with those
crucial decisions.