Commission on Biomedical Ethics - Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis

Health care decisions involving you or your loved ones are difficult indeed. First, there is an information deficit. Doctors and nurses spend years studying and working with disease and illness. They are usually the only person in the know when you have been informed about a diagnoses or a possible therapeutic intervention. And yet, their excellence in medicine comes with its own deficit which is they usually don’t know their patients personally. Second, if the medical information or questions come as the result of an emergency or in an unexpected way, all of us can feel overwhelmed about how to proceed. Third, family dynamics are sometimes complicated especially when there has not been any clear statement by the one in need. It is for these very reasons that the Church offers principles for biomedical decision making – principles that can assist you, your doctors and your family in making decisions which respect every human person as a child of God.

Most medical care professionals try to honor four principles which are quite common in medical texts today.[1] They are: 1) Autonomy; 2) Nonmalfeasance; 3) Beneficence; and 4) Justice. As you might wonder, who defines these principles is of decisive importance not to mention how one balances these principles and gives to each of them their proper weight.

Catholic moral teaching would encourage the acceptance of several other principles such as the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death. As the Catechism states: “Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself or herself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being.”[2]

Another essential principle is the dignity of every human life independent of other values which are sometimes used to argue that some human lives are better than others. Every person has innate dignity and “[t]hese human rights depend neither on single individuals nor on parents; nor do they represent a concession made by society and the state; they belong to human nature and are inherent in the person by virtue of the creative act from which the person took their origin.”[3]

Along with the sacredness and dignity of every human life, Catholic teaching recognizes the importance of the principle of truth telling and that of the common good. Without the truth, either that of one’s medical condition or the teaching of the Church, one is not in a position to be informed or properly assert their autonomy. Nor is one able to be just if they are not mindful that one’s good is intimately related to the common good and that all individuals have a right to share in the goods which should be common to all.

One way that you can make sense of bioethics is by educating yourself about these Catholic principles now, before you have need to put them into action. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2c2a5.htm), for example, on the fifth commandment can help you form your intellect in the truth as can a number of magisterial texts which address areas of ongoing theological reflection by the Church (http://www.thesocialagenda.org/article3.htm). You should also talk with your loved ones about the Catholic Church’s teachings and pray for assistance in being open to the Spirit of truth.

Another resource you have is your parish priest. In addition to his desire to be of service to you or your loved ones with his prayers and the Sacraments of the Church, the priest can be of help in assisting you to interact with your doctor or to talk through the various prognoses and therapies which confront you. Don’t be afraid to ask.

[1] Cf., e.g., Beauchamp, T.L., Childress, J.F. (1994) Principles of Bioethics. Fourth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press

[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2258

[3] Catechism of the Catholic Church # 2273