Coma And Death - Please Help

[Guest joe]

Hi,
I am in a position where I don't know what the teaching of the church is - please help. My mother, 79 years old, fell and split her head open in the street. She was helicoptered to UCLA and underwent over 15 hours of brain surgery. Her only kidney has totally failed, her liver is only marginal, and her hip, broken in the fall, has not yet been fixed with surgery. She has been in a coma now for over a month. If she ever does come out of the coma, she will be restricted to a life in bed, connected to a respirator, and a dialysis machine, and is expected to have no mental capabilities - no memory and no skills like how to talk or how to drink, etc. - in other words, a total vegetable. What is the position of the church on "pulling the plug"? The doctors say they can now keep her body alive almost indefinitely, but she is not ever expected to recover with any kind of a life. The doctors all say end it now, my older brother says end it now, my younger brother is undecided at the moment, but I am the one with the health care power of attorney and so it is really my responsibility alone to decide if and when to end her suffering.

Another related question - her respirator only assists with her breathing, but at this time, she initiates each breath. If the respirator is disconnected, she may still continue to breath on her own. Then what should I do - let her live, or continue "pulling more plugs" by letting her be poisoned to death by disconnecting the dialysis machine too, or starve her to death by removing her feeding tube?

I have looked with new interest at the case of Terri Schiavo who had her plug pulled, and Terry Wallis, an Arkansas man who was in a coma for 19 years then suddenly came out of it with a full and swift recovery. Am I playing God by pulling the plug, or am I playing God by using such extraordinary means to keep her body alive? What does the church teach? What should I do?

Your help and prayers are appreciated.
Thank you.
Joe

[Pio Nono]

JMJ
2/18 - Seventh Sunday per annum

joe,

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. Know that you and your family are in my prayers during this hard time.

The Church teaches that one can legitimately terminate treatments that are considered extraordinary means. The means are extraordinary because the treatment (and not the pre-existing condition) is the cause of extreme pain, extreme financial difficulty, or extreme inconvenience on the part of the patient. Thus, one cannot remove a feeding tube or dialysis machine because they relieve conditions and are not the cause of any extreme difficulty on the part of the patient. One can legitimately end the respirator treatment because it is the treatment itself that causes the difficulty (since she initiates each breath). This is morally legitimate.

Remember, too, that the one with power of attourney's job is to relate the wishes of the one who is receiving treatment, but only after determining which treatments one can terminate. I hope this helps.

Yours,
Pio Nono