Catholic Teaching on Dying

In a recent decision by the Supreme Court in Korea the doctors treating a comatose woman were told that the life support must be removed as her family requested. This is the first time the court has ruled in favor of a patient's right to die. This decision by the court can be interpreted in many different ways but it did not judge for euthanasia which is the way some are taking it.

The Church in a case where there is no hope of a person in a vegetative state trusts the decision of the medical team who are the specialist to make a conscientious judgment on the continuation of medical treatment.

According to an article in the Catholic paper this week the Church is now concerned with the different words that are being used with different meanings by many in our Korean society. The Catechism of the Church says:“Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate; it is the refusal of “over-zealous” treatment. Here one does not will to cause death; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted.”

The problem comes when the words that are used have different meanings. “Death with dignity” , “Prolonging life”, “Life with no meaning”,” Passive Euthanasia”, These are words that do not mean the same to everybody. We have a problem with terminology. The Church’s thinking in this area goes back 500 years it is surprising how even within the Church there is not always the same understanding of the terms.

"If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake. (Catechism)

In Catholic Teaching it is very clear that no one is required to continue medical treatment that has no prospects of improving ones health.