Official Hospice philosophy conflicts with Catholic teaching, re: nutrition & hydration.

....official Hospice philosophy conflicts with Catholic teaching (re: nutrition & hydration)....As per the Vatican's 2007 "Responses to Certain Questions of the USCCB Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration" <www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070801_risposte-usa_en.html>,

• "The administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life. It is therefore obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented....A patient in a 'permanent vegetative state' is a person with fundamental human dignity and must, therefore, receive ordinary and proportionate care which includes, in principle, the administration of water and food even by artificial means."

Just shortly before he died, Pope John Paul II said

• "the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering" <www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2004/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_20040320_congress-fiamc_en.html>.

The Catholic position dramatically contrasts with the expressed philosophy of the Hospice Foundation of America on nutrition and hydration:

• "because of the advances of science we are now able to prolong the lives of persons who would not survive without external support, mechanical devices, or, at times, intravenous or central line (cut-down) nutrition and water....For persons in the final phase of illness, the withholding of food and fluids is not painful....one's metabolism changes and the resulting elevated level of ketones produces a mild sense of euphoria, so that hunger and thirst are not the problem we would imagine. This same phenomenon has been well documented in the self-imposed starvation of Irish prisoners in Northern Ireland [JT's NOTE: The independent film, "Hunger", deals with these historical incidents & clearly shows that starvation is as inhumane as it is immoral!]....In no way is the withholding of food and fluids comparable to the methods or rationalizations employed by Dr. Kevorkian."

When my mom was no longer eating 10 years ago, Hospice DISCONTINUED SERVICES because I had insisted on artificial feeding. In regard to HFA's efforts to disassociate from Kevorkian, "Me think thou doth protest too much."

The past week has marked the 4th anniversaries of both Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo. It's interesting that the Hospice Foundation of America's web site is packed with justifications for how Terri Schiavo was treated (i.e., murdered, by Catholic standards).