Newsmax reported on April 16, 2004:
Roman Catholic hospitals are reassuring patients they'll honor living wills in the wake of a papal pronouncement that hospitals should never remove feeding tubes from patients in persistent vegetative states. In a talk March 20, Pope John Paul II said that feeding and hydrating such patients is "morally obligatory," and that withdrawing feeding tubes constitutes "euthanasia by omission." Since then, American bishops, theologians and ethicists have been studying the issue closely to see what the pope's words will mean for hospital operations in the United States. For now, many hospitals are deferring to the "Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services," commonly called ERDs, outlined by the U.S. Conference on Catholic Bishops. According to those guidelines, feeding tubes for people in chronically vegetative states are "medical treatment" that can be continued or halted based on the benefits and burdens for patient and family. Such guidelines call for following directives set out in advance by people who do not want life-prolonging medical treatments, as long as the person's wishes don't conflict with Catholic moral teachings, including the church's ban on euthanasia.
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