How far must we go to keep a dying person alive?

How far must we go to keep a dying person alive?

A recent situation where a man who is diabetic, suffers from kidney failure, and now is in a reversed mental capacity and the family is in dire straits as to what to do.  One son has no intention of removing him from Dialysis treatments, another child is trying to assist the family in an organized manner, and a third son is not willing to help but has his mind set on other things.  

The Church tells us that it isn’t necessary to use extra-ordinary care to keep a dying person alive.  “Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of overzealous treatment.  Here one does not will to cause death; one’s ability to impede it is merely accepted.  The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.”  CCC 2278.

“Even if death is thought imminent, the ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted.  The use of painkillers to alleviate the sufferings of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as either an end or a means, but only foreseen and tolerated as inevitable.  Palliative care is a special form of disinterested charity.  As such it should be encouraged.”  CCC 2279.

We may see this on a daily basis when the heart strings of relatives are reluctant to let their loved ones go.  Death can be the most devastating part of life and no one really wants it to confront their normal activities with a sudden decision of a terminal prognosis to a loved one.  

This particular case is common and finding an easy compromise, sometimes at a moment’s discretion, cannot be with a positive outcome.  However, other obstructions in life may also conflict with our daily activities.  The sudden loss of a job, an undetected disaster with losing a house to fire, or an accident that might result in a lawsuit.  All of these can be resolved in different manners of legal or replaceable events to a plausible result.  But, facing the  termination of a loved one’s life creates a whole new view on the life of someone we love.

Most people are not prepared to wrestle with a decision as the right physical, physiological, and moral decision that must be faced with death at the doorstep to their serene lives.  However, occasions like this are not uncommon and most of us will encounter these obstructions at some point in our lives.

Making a moral decision that will satisfy every different member of any family in a crisis as imminent death is never going to be easy.  When caught in the middle of Palliative care and our part in letting go, we need to ask God for his comfort reminding us that his Son’s mother and close friends faced the same situation.  Although the imminent death of Jesus was totally different, it still brought about the same results of those who loved the Lord.  The period of mourning for the loss of a loved one will become a reality on Good Friday, and our acceptance of a far greater result ending with the resurrection of Christ from the dead.  

“On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.  So she ran and went to Simon Perer and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.”  (Jn 20: 1 - 2).  “For they did not understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.”  (Jn 20: 9).  

In all who will die, the resurrection is the ultimate occurrence that each of us will also receive and death is no longer an evil, but an opening for our soul to be united with our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Ralph B. Hathaway