wfn.org | Establish Principles With Regard to the Prolongation of Life

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@episcopalchurch.org>]

Daybook, from Episcopal News Service

March 22, 2005 - Tuesday To Note & To Read

Episcopal Church offers resources for end-of-life issues

[Episcopal News Service] While the Episcopal Church's General Convention
has
not specifically addressed the situation of Terri Schiavo-the Florida
woman
who suffered severe brain damage in 1990 and has relied on a feeding
tube to
keep her alive since-several resolutions have been passed regarding
end-of-life issues. These include a 1991 resolution regarding
prolongation
of life.

A helpful resource for Episcopalians seeking to understand the issues is
the
following book:

Faithful Living, Faithful Dying: Anglican Reflections on End of Life
Care

paperback

by The End of Life Task Force of the Standing Commission on National
Concerns

Morehouse Publishing

March 1, 2000

176 Pages

$15.95

What do faithful living and faithful dying mean as we near life's end?
With
all the technology and choices available to us today, making decisions
about
the end of life grows ever more difficult. As a result of all the
theological and ethical issues that have arisen around the dying process
in
recent years, the 72nd General Convention of the Episcopal Church
created a
task force to study and report on these concerns. This is the report of
the
End-of-Life Task Force. In it, the Task Force responds to the broad
range of
theological, ethical, pastoral and policy issues that are generated by
the
need to provide loving and fitting care at the end of life.

Intended as a teaching document, Faithful Living, Faithful Dying will be
useful as a discussion tool for the church, for individuals facing
difficult
decisions, for professionals, such as clergy and health care providers,
and
for those who make public policy.

Reviews for Faithful Living, Faithful Dying

"This book will prove most worthwhile for pastors and parish ministers
and
ministry committees, a very useful study/discussion guide for small
groups,
and a helpful tool for chaplains who continue to seek ways to bring the
spiritual and prophetic voices into the arenas of healthcare and ethical
decision-making." -- Resources Hotline, August 2000

 Resolution Number:	 1991-A093

Legislative Action Taken:	   Concurred As Amended

Final Text:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That this 70th General
Convention
set forth the following principles and guidelines with
regard to the foregoing of life-sustaining treatment in the light of our
understanding of the sacredness of human life:

1.	Although human life is sacred, death is part of the earthly
cycle of
life. There is a "time to be born and a time to die" (Eccl. 3:2). The
resurrection of Jesus Christ transforms death into a transition to
eternal
life: "For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the
resurrection
of the dead" (I Cor. 15:21).

2.	Despite this hope, it is morally wrong and unacceptable to
intentionally take a human life in order to relieve the suffering caused
by
incurable illness. This would include the intentional shortening of
another
person's life by the use of a lethal dose of medication or poison, the
use
of lethal weapons, homicidal acts, and other forms of active euthanasia.
Palliative treatment to relieve the pain of persons with progressive
incurable illnesses, even if done with the knowledge that a hastened
death
may result, is consistent with
theological tenets regarding the sanctity of life.  However, there is no
moral obligation to prolong the act of dying by extraordinary means and
at
all costs if such dying person is ill and has no reasonable expectation
of
recovery.

3.	In those cases involving persons who are in a comatose state
from
which there is no reasonable expectation of recovery, subject to legal
restraints, this Church's members are urged to seek the advice and
counsel
of members of the church community, and where appropriate, its
sacramental
life, in contemplating the withholding or removing of life-sustaining
systems, including hydration and nutrition.

4.	We acknowledge that the withholding or removing of
life-sustaining
systems has a tragic dimension. The decision to withhold or withdraw
life-sustaining treatment should ultimately rest with the patient, or
with
the patient's surrogate decision-makers in the case of a mentally
incapacitated patient. We therefore express our deep conviction that any
proposed legislation on the part of national or state governments
regarding
the so called "right to die" issues, (a) must take special care to see
that
the individual's rights are respected and that the responsibility of
individuals to reach informed decisions in this matter is acknowledged
and
honored, and (b) must also provide expressly for the withholding or
withdrawing of life-sustaining systems, where the decision to withhold
or
withdraw life-sustaining systems has been arrived at with proper
safeguards
against abuse.

5.	We acknowledge that there are circumstances in which health care
providers, in good conscience, may decline to act on request to
terminate
life-sustaining systems if they object on moral or religious grounds. In
such cases we endorse the idea of respecting the patient's right to
self-determination by permitting such patient to be transferred to
another
facility or physician willing to honor the patient's request, provided
that
the patient can readily, comfortably and safely be transferred. We
encourage
health care providers who make it a policy to decline involvement in the
termination of life-sustaining systems to communicate their policy to
patients or their surrogates at the earliest opportunity, preferably
before
the patients or their surrogates have engaged the services of such a
health
care provider.

6.	Advance written directives (so-called "living wills,"
"declarations
concerning medical treatment" and "durable powers of attorney setting
forth
medical declarations") that make a person's wishes concerning the
continuation or withholding or removing of
life-sustaining systems should be encouraged, and this Church's members
are
encouraged to execute such advance written directives during good health
and
competence and that the execution of such advance written directives
constitute loving and moral acts.

7.	We urge the Council of Seminary Deans, the Christian Education
departments of each diocese, and those in charge of programs of
continuing
education for clergy and all others responsible for education programs
in
this Church, to consider seriously the inclusion of basic training in
issues
of prolongation of life and death with dignity in their curricula and
programs.

Citation:	     General Convention, Journal of the General
Convention
of...The Episcopal Church, Phoenix, 1991 (New York: General Convention,
1992), p. 383.

___________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to enslist, send a blank email message, from the address
which
you wish subscribed, to: join-enslist@epicom.org

Send QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS to news@episcopalchurch.org.

The enslist is published by Episcopal News Service:
www.episcopalchurch.org/ens