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Article: Allowing to die II.
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- April 23, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Speaking last month to an international congress of physicians and ethicists in Rome, Pope John Paul II declared that the "administration of food and water, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act." He added that providing hydration and nutrition is "in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such, morally obligatory." The pope was speaking about patients in a persistent vegetative state (PVS) who, because of severe brain damage, are not conscious and cannot ingest food or water naturally.
John Paul has been a vigilant defender of the dignity of human life in all its stages, and he was ...