Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta.
About The Georgia bulletin (Atlanta) 1963-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1989)
PAGE 12 — The Georgia Bulletin, September 14,1989 Catholic Health Groups: Ethics Should Underpin Law In Right -To-Die Case WASHINGTON (CNS) — In the rapidly growing field of so-called right-to-die cases, any legal guidelines must “reflect sound ethical principles,” a group of Catholic health care organizations told the U.S. Supreme Court. Whatever precedents or guidelines the court establishes in such cases, “some ethic of life is being popularized,” the group said in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Sept. 2. “The legal presumption should require the provision of life-sustaining treat ment,” the brief said. “This presumption can be overridden only when one has an adequate objective basis to show that such treatment would be futile or unduly burdensome to the patient.” The organizations, led by SSM Health Care System, a St. Louis-based corpora tion of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary, col lectively represent more than 130 Catholic health care facilities around the country. Also joining in the brief were two priests, Augustinian Father James J. McCartney and Dominican Father Kevin O’Rourke, who specialize in medical ethics and often advise Catholic health care providers. They addressed the court in connection with a Missouri case in which the parents of 31-year-old Nancy Beth Cruzan have been seeking permission to remove life- support systems from their irreversibly unconscious daughter. In a departure from usual practice, the organizations did not intervene in support of either side in the case. Rather, they said, they were speaking as health care providers and advisers with an interest in seeing that sound ethics govern U.S. legal practice concerning all “deci sions as to the implementation, continua tion or cessation of treatment for those in a persistent vegetative state.” Ms. Cruzan has been in a persistent vegetative state since an auto accident in 1983. Her parents, Lester L. and Joyce Cruzan, in 1987 argued in court that she would not have wanted to be kept alive with feeding tubes. A lower court judge ordered the Missouri Rehabilitation Center in Mount Vernon, where Ms. Cruzan was a patient, to remove the tubes. According to medical testimony, she could live for many years if the tubes are not withdrawn. The case was appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which in November 1988 overturned the lower court ruling. It said it could find no “principled legal basis" that would permit Ms. Cruzan’s parents “to choose the death of their ward.” Its decision was based in part on Missouri’s Living Will Statute, which per mits withdrawal of artificial life-support systems from hopelessly ill or injured pa tients but specifically forbids withholding of food and water. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in July to hear the case during its 1989-90 term. The Catholic organizations' brief argued that “the paramount ethical issue” in such cases “is that the dignity and sanctity of human life in all of its forms must be valued and respected.” They said “sanctity” is seen as a religious term by some, but it “is not a limited religious or sectarian term. As used by the courts, sanctity simply means National GoanGil of GatholiG Worn^n 1989 Gor\VGi\tion SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 2, 1989 THE ATLANTA HILTON AND TOWERS 255 Courtland Street, N.E. Atlanta, Georgia 30303 NCCW 44th Biennial Convention Atlanta, Georgia September 28-October 2, 1989 NON-VOTING DELEGATE REGISTRATION FORM Please print or type the information as you wish it to appear on your badge. N, m .l I I I I I I I I I I 1 I I I I I I I I 11 I I I I I I Your Diocesan or Archdiocesan Council Affiliation (use abbr. "ACCW" or "DCCW," e.g., St. Petersburg DCCW) 1 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I II. I I I I fcfe, I I I I I I I I I I I II I I I I I I I II I I I I I CHvI I I I II I I I I 7,ol I I I I I I I I I i i i i n i i i i i I I State I L II I I I Please complete the following: 1. Registration Full Time One Day Postmarked by August 28 □ $110.00 □ $ 35.00 After August 28 and On Site □ $135.00 □ $ 40.00 One-Day registrants must list the exact day of attendance: □ Thurs., Sept. 28 □ Fri., Sept. 29 □ Sat., Sept. 30 □ Sun., Oct. 1 □ Mon., Oct. 2 2. □ Moderators' Luncheon $16.00 Total Amount Enclosed . Payment must accompany this registration form. Make checks payable to "NCCW" and mail to NCCW Convention Registration, 1275 K Street, N.W., Suite 975, Washington, DC 20005. Your cancelled check is your receipt. that life is inviolable.” “It is essential,” they wrote, “that the court’s legal analysis in this case and in similar cases in the future begin with the premise that the state has a paramount in terest in preserving the sanctity of all life.” They asked the court to “enunciate guidelines for making the decision and for courts to apply if the parties are not able to agree on the appropriateness of a treat ment decision for a person in a persistent vegetative state.” The person’s family, they added, has the “primary right ... to be the decision maker.” If the guidelines are followed and there is no disagreement among the prin cipal parties in the case, there should be no “court intervention,” they said. While those involved in the brief were Catholic, they said the ethical principles they were urging are “part of the common « tradition of our people.” Those principles are also held by many ethicists “who do not write from a religious perspective,” they said. * They also stated in a footnote that, although they were Catholic institutions and individuals, they did not speak to the court as “the official teaching authority * (magisterium) of the Roman Catholic Church.” “As of the filing of this brief,” they add ed, “the magisterium has not issued an authoritative statement on the application of Catholic ethical and theological prin ciples to the issues raised in this case.” Among others expected to file briefs in the case is the U.S. Catholic Conference, which is expected to intervene on the side of the state, opposing the withdrawal of , food and water in the circumstances sur rounding Ms. Cruzan’s case. Stallings Labels As 'Baseless' Alleged Sexual Misconduct Story • BY JERRY FILTEAU WASHINGTON (CNS) - Father George A. Stallings Jr., who defied Catholic authorities this summer to form an African-American church, has labeled “baseless” a page-one report Sept. 4 by The Washington Post alleging that he had a history of homosexual activity. The Post said it had a sworn statement from a 28-year-old man saying that in 1977, when he was 16 and an altar boy, Father Stallings initiated repeated sexual relations with him. It also cited unidentified sources saying the priest was refused a pastorate earlier this year because of concerns by church authorities about his lifestyle and possible sex ual behavior. Father Stallings, who was suspended from priest ly ministry by Cardinal James A. Hickey of Washington after he form ed the breakaway Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation in June, said he would not “dignify with a response HOUSE CLEANING $30 SPECIAL FAE 875-4822 GEORGIA BULLETIN Ads Bring Results! Announcing the Grand Opening of weet *Sensations OPEN LATE NIGHTS AND LUNCH! Peachtree-Piedmont Shopping Center • 3330 Piedmont Next to RUPERT’S in Buckhead • 237-7075 the scurrilous and baseless” allegations in the Post. The Post reported that he had refused its repeated ef forts to interview him and get his side of the story. Cardinal Hickey, follow ing a Labor Day Mass at a local parish at which Imani Temple followers picketed him, read a brief statement to reporters. “I was sorry to read the allegation in today’s Post,” the cardinal said. “If it is true, then I feel great sor row and sympathy for everyone involved in what was described in today’s Post story, especially the young man.” Cardinal Hickey said he would be watching developments “very care fully,” but “as has been my policy in this matter, I will have no further comment.” Efforts by Catholic News Service to reach Father Stallings for comment were unsuccessful. Call Gerry Simone For More Details • Northside Decatur Dekalb 321-0855 • Central Service 386-9620 • Greater Atlanta Metro 361-6560 • N. Fulton Cobb 998-3032 Hours 8AM - 8PM, Mon. Thru Sat, WHITE OAK FARM Guided Hunts Season Memberships Local Mass For Weekend Hunters White Oak Farm Rt. 3 Box 454GB Jackson, GA 30233 404-775-2619 ★ ★ GENERAL HARDWARE We cany a full line of top brand merchandise giving you a variety of choices. Scarce & hard to find items are a specialty. 237-5209 4218 Peachtree Road N.E. Brookhaven :* I-
