by Fr. Jim Whalen
2002, Issue 4
Preparing for the birthday of Jesus, we recognize as human persons, and as human patients, that we have human rights and human responsibilities. From conception, the first moment of existence, until natural death, we as persons have a need and capacity for intelligent freedom. Let there be room in our hearts and homes to experience life as a gift from God. Let us reach out to all and cultivate mutual support and respect, and build a civilization of love.
Accepting the call of God to act like persons means that all persons, including patients, have control over their lives and take part in forming relationships and communities. All have a right to live as persons and be treated as such, with respect for God, the other and for self. It means, furthermore, a special reverence for each person irregardless of the individual’s state, whether handicapped or not. For a patient, this means being in possession of one’s own life, while at the same time, cultivating relationships in a community of persons, in a caring and loving manner. A patient has a primary right and responsibility to reach these goals with help from health care professionals.
The patient’s responsibility and right to make intelligent decisions cannot be delegated to others at either the health care level or community level. When a proxy must necessarily speak for a patient, he or she must strive to present as accurately as possible what the patient would decide to do, if he or she was able. Health care resources are available to help patients to make use of whatever intelligent freedom is possible for them, to help persons to be persons. Catholic patient’s transcendent spiritual beliefs concerning life, suffering, and death are not negotiable. Hospital policies must protect the patient’s right to receive ethically ordinary treatment and preserve the option to reject ethically extraordinary treatment.
Each person or patient has a law inscribed in their heart by God, a voice calling out to all to love and do what is good and avoid evil. Each person will be judged by how this law is observed. The conscience must be formed and informed by objective truths, guided by objective moral standards, in order to make correct decisions for life, in order to be people of life and for life. This means a patient must make the best possible effort to discover the right choice, and turn aside from blind choices.
A patient, in forming his conscience, has the responsibility to speak to the physician(s) about his present condition, the medication, surgery, or other proposed intervention. At the same time, he has a right to be listened to and to be believed.
The Catholic patient is blessed with standards of morality that are clearly outlined in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. A Catholic patient can easily obtain the teachings of the magisterium as well as various encyclicals, which explain and develop pro-life morality (e.g.: Humanae Vitae, Evangelium Vitae, Veritatis Splendor). Contraception, sterilization, abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide are evil acts to be rejected.
The Catholic patient has a responsibility to know and judge his or her life by the standards of Jesus Christ; to maintain his or her life with respect, reverence and gratitude; to love life, and cultivate a pro-life attitude; to stay alive to assist in recovery of his or her health; to be rehabilitated if necessary; and to strive for optimal health.
Patients have a right to be helped by physicians, family, friends, society and hospitals, because of the human values of each human being, created in the image of God as unique individuals. Society has the moral obligation to protect individuals from risk to their lives, especially if it involves the benefit of others (as in experimentation). A patient has a right to know the competency and ethical integrity of a recommended physician or hospital to which he or she is allocated. Hospital records, physician’s information, or other personal data, must be guarded to protect the patient’s right to privacy and legal obligations. There are exceptions to the rule as in the case of a moral obligation of a physician to inform parents that their teenage daughter is pregnant and planning to have an abortion.
Catholic patients are expected to strive to live a lifestyle which responds with thankfulness to God’s gift of life and meets the requirements for good health, simplicity and regularity. This would include daily prayer, daily physical and spiritual exercises, healthy eating habits, rest, and a practical, human timetable. A certain personal, spiritual, and emotional maturity is the responsibility of patients in relating to others as persons rather than objects. This means following competent advice, cooperating with therapy, accepting prescribed treatments and medications, and respecting caregivers and health professionals. A patient’s rights comes from his or her basic responsibilities as a person and should incorporate freedoms to choose intelligently. ¤