Extraordinary measures: The Vatican, feeding tubes and human dignity
The Vatican declared last month that it is morally wrong to remove feeding tubes from patients who are in a permanent vegetative state. Responding in part to perplexity over the Terri Schiavo case, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith stated that delivery of food and water, even by artificial means and even to someone who is permanently unresponsive, is “ordinary” care—care that caregivers are morally obliged to provide in virtually all cases in order to preserve the patient’s human dignity.