Cavanagh Maureen
St. Peter's Health Partners, Albany, NY, USA.
Linacre Q. 2014 Aug;81(3):279-85. doi: 10.1179/2050854914Y.0000000025.
The practice of voluntarily stopping eating and drinking (VSED) in order to hasten death poses a unique problem for the Catholic hospice. Hospice staff may be confronted with patients already on their service who decide to pursue this option for ending their lives. Patients not on hospice service who are contemplating VSED are often advised to contact hospice for symptom palliation associated with the process of VSED. Intentionally hastening death not only violates the sanctity of human life and the Ethical and Religious Directives the Catholic hospice is bound to uphold, but it also runs counter to the general philosophy that hospice neither hastens nor postpones death. At the same time, hospice programs have a strong philosophy of nonabandonment of patients. This article will analyze the ethical issues from the perspective of the Catholic tradition and suggest strategies for the Catholic hospice to respond to this group of patients.
为加速死亡而自愿停止进食和饮水(VSED)的行为给天主教临终关怀机构带来了一个独特的问题。临终关怀机构的工作人员可能会面对已在其服务范围内、决定选择这种方式结束生命的患者。考虑进行VSED的非临终关怀机构服务对象的患者,通常会被建议联系临终关怀机构,以缓解与VSED过程相关的症状。故意加速死亡不仅违反了人类生命的神圣性以及天主教临终关怀机构必须秉持的伦理和宗教教义,也与临终关怀机构既不加速也不推迟死亡的总体理念背道而驰。与此同时,临终关怀项目有着强烈的不抛弃患者的理念。本文将从天主教传统的角度分析伦理问题,并为天主教临终关怀机构应对这类患者提出策略。