Authority of a husband over wife's medical care

[Bernadette]

This came up in another thread, and I asked the question there, but I wanted to oppen it up to a wider audience and get your opinions.

Weren't her fluids withheld as well?  I can't remember the exact details, I was a wee lad at the time. 

Yes, and Cekada references that:

"A wicked husband still maintains his headship over the wife before God and his "domestic and paternal authority.  He has the right to say yes or no to ice chips and Jello, unless and until an ecclesiastical or civil court, for a grave and just reason, legitimately impedes him from exercising his right."

The ice chips and Jell-O reference would only be for someone who could swallow.

A husband has the right to refuse jello and ice chips for his wife? What if she's conscious? Does he still have the same right?

Does a husband have the authority to refuse certain medications or treatments for his wife, if she's competent?

[Michael Wilson]

No, the husband is not the owner or master of his wife; she has the right to decide for herself, as long as her decisions are in accord with morality.

[Bernadette]

Thanks, Michael.

[queen.saints]

"It is fundamentally the patient himself who has the right to decide whether or not he shall continue with [even] a useless and extraordinary means which will prolong his intense suffering...


"the first rule concerning the doctor's duty: he must do what the patient wishes. It is the patient who has the right to use or to refuse the extraordinary means; hence, it is primarily the patient who must be consulted. Obviously there are many cases in which it is impossible to consult the patient, e.g., when he is delirious or in a coma, or when he is a small child. In these cases the right to make the decision is vested in those who are closest to the patient, i.e., husband, wife, parents, guardians... the relatives do not make this decision precisely in their own name, but rather as representing the patient; hence, they should try to determine what he would reasonably want done under the circumstances."


Fr. Joseph McFadden, Medical Ethics, 1958