…Who Want’s to be Judge that Orders that Tube Removed?
According to the Associated Press, Pope John Paul II is getting nutrition from a tube.
Which brings up some interesting questions: Who has the rights of surrogacy for the Pope? He’s not married, has no children…
Does the Pope have a living will? Does it specify that he does not want to be starved to death?
Do you think it would be humane to let the Pope starve and dehydrate to death? No? What if we gave him morphine?
UPDATE: The Pope’s condition is deteriorating. According to the Vatican, he’s been given his last rites.
Just in case you’re not being rhetorical….
The Pope is a head of state (Vatican City), governed by the laws of that country. I would guess that the College of Cardinals (the group that chooses a new Pope when the old dies) would have collective authority to decide what to do. However, there’s probably some sort of hierarchy within the state that I’m unaware of.
But of course, I think it’s all moot, since I believe Catholic doctrine is clear enough that they wouldn’t dare hasten his death.
I think you’re right, Jason.
Too bad the Schiavo’s aren’t Catholics.
Here is something interesting for you all to ponder. My husband and I were divorced in March 02 after a long, tumultous marriage. It would be a very long tale to go into the details, but suffice it to say, the divorce was a mistake and within a couple of months, we both realized it. Shortly thereafter ensued a series of family crises on my side and he stood by me and then he contracted a virus in his heart and I cared for him. He died in February 03. I will tell you this. There is no doubt in my mind that God stepped in and gave us a gift. He gave us several months to be kind to each other, to support one another, and when he died I stood by his casket with our daughter totally united in honoring his life so there was no controversy. I will tell you something interesting however. When he got sick, I was with him in the hospital. Nobody asked me or him if I was his legal wife. When he died, I signed all the papers. Nobody asked me for ID. I loved him more in those last months than in 30 years and I know he felt the same. I knew him more than anyone on the face of the earth and I knew what he would have wanted in death and I gave that to him. But, from purely a legal standpoint, I had no standing whatsoever with regard to his medical treatment or his treatment in death…but, nobody asked and to this day they don’t know that the signature on those papers wasn’t from a wife or a relative of any kind. Kinda puts a different spin on things doesn’t it.