Catholic and End of Life Care

[Josephine87]

I had a discussion with my husband yesterday about end of life care.  He isn't Catholic and we strongly disagreed with each other.  He is in the medical field and sees a lot of elderly or very sickly people who he believes are "kept alive for no reason" so to speak.  You know what I mean, it's a common belief in our now secular age.  I tried to argue with him that even though people seem like "vegetables" you have no idea whether they are conscious or not and if their souls are still communing with God then we shouldn't "pull the plug". 

I do oppose all these extraordinary measures that people take to stay alive as long as possible, but we were discussing feeding tubes and breathing assistance.  He also says it usually isn't the patients themselves who insist on these extraordinary measures, but the family who are trying to keep them alive, he assumes due to collecting the sick person's Social Security or disability check.  I wish I could find that sermon.

I remember listening to a traditional priest on Audio Sancto speak about end of life issues.  "Nothing extraordinary" being necessary to keep someone alive, but something ordinary, like feeding them is absolutely required.  Can someone elaborate on this from a Catholic perspective?  How would you discuss this with someone who disagrees?  My husband is "Christian" but extremely secularized and very influenced by what he sees at his job.

[Josephine87]

I'm pretty sure this is the sermon, starts at 4:15:

[Chestertonian]

There is no way that the social security or disability check is big enough to have anything left over after paying for their care. 

I put up with feeding tubes and mechanical ventilation because I have young kids.  I question whether that's the right thing all the time.   If my boys were older I definitely would not put up with this.

[lauermar]

I work in hospice care in Northern Illinois. I was hired by my company in November 2018. I decided to switch my career to this after I had a brush with breast cancer.

Hospice as a concept was started over one hundred years ago by Catholic nuns. The goal is to support a natural death and not to hasten death. The patient is empowered to decide which medications he wants to keep, and which he feels is making him sicker. Hospice patients do not pursue vigorous treatment, and one needs a diagnosis of terminal by a doctor. That does not mean they have only 6 months to live. We currently had a patient who was given one week to live just before his 75th birthday. We moved him to comfortable surroundings and give him pain relief and wound care. He is still terminal and not taking chemotherapy. But it's up to God to decide when to take him. He regained some strength and has lived to his 76th birthday. His case is hopeless and yet he's able to wheel himself around and play cards most days.

If anyone has any questions about it, you can message me. In the meantime, here's a helpful website:  https://www.nhpco.org/about/hospice-care

Oh yes, and I started a Facebook page for the branch office I work for. Here is a link to the above patient's testimony. He signed a permission slip and wrote his own story himself:

https://www.facebook.com/2002387653170918/photos/a.2094343393975343/2094343467308669/?type=3&theater

[TradGranny]

We have had two friends be put in Hospice Care locally; both of whom were dehydrated to death. They were both put on huge doses of morphine on a drip line -- a nurse who visited our friend with me was shocked that there was no water in the bag above the drip line -- simply the morphine.

Family members, in both cases, were told that if the person screamed for water (this is reduced by raising the morphine level) they were only to dip a q-tip in water to moisten the person's mouth. Family members were told the person might choke if they were given a sip of water. No one addressed why there was no water in the drip line.

[Chestertonian]

it could be that their kidneys are shutting down

when my dad was dying of kidney failure he could eat and drink what he wanted.  It did speed up the dying process because eventually the lungs fill up with fluid and you choke on your body's own wastes

[lauermar]

Correct. After a certain point, the body cannot absorb food or drink without it backing up in the stomach, lungs and bowels, which is painful; hence the flavored swabs or popsicles.

In my state, euthanasia is still illegal. One cannot give a lethal dose...yet. I hope our state doesn't legalize assisted suicide. If it does, I will leave hospice work.

Morphine is mixed in a solution and given in an IV bag that includes water. I don't know where the OP got the idea it was "pure morphine."