” “At the side of the suffering

On 11 February, on the occasion of World Day for the sick, the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Northern Europe, which gathers together the representatives of the Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Icelandic Catholic Church, under the presidency of Gerhard Schwenzer, bishop of Oslo, published a pastoral letter with the title “Preserving life: assistance in the final phase of life” in which the issues of the treatment of the terminally ill and of euthanasia are addressed. “This letter is not addressed only to the Catholic Christians of Northern Europe”, stress the bishops. They express the hope that the “document may contribute to promoting a ‘culture of life’ in the Nordic countries, and especially help to foster respect for man, who was created in the image and likeness of God, redeemed in Christ and called to eternal life”. Starting out from the present-day “social background” of Scandinavian society, the letter then tackles the “Christian point of view as regards medical assistance and the care of the sick” and reviews the “problems raised by treatment in the final phase of life”. The letter also explains the “contribution of the Church to health care in Northern Europe” and concludes with a series of “recommendations and proposals”. We give a résumé of them below. Palliative medicine. No matter how “ignored a sector it is, because less prestigious than other fields of medicine”, affirm the bishops, it must nonetheless be promoted “by supporting research on palliative treatments and the training of personnel, in such a way that better preparation may be to the patient’s advantage”. “From the medical point of view – the letter continues – the patient, even if suffering from an incurable disease, must never be considered ‘beyond treatment'”. On the other hand, this type of intervention must be seen as an “autonomous element in overall medical treatment, and be promptly provided to all those who have a need for it, and be continued right up to the moment of death.” Euthanasia. Very often “the desire of the terminally ill to be helped to die is especially based on the lack of dialogue, on depression and on the fear that patients may feel at the approach of death and the fear of constituting a further burden to those looking after them or their families”. This desire must in no way be abetted, the bishops declare in their document, since “euthanasia represents an unacceptable alternative that undermines the significance of palliative treatments and jeopardizes the value of man.” Terminal sedation. The bishops also firmly reject the method that consists in the forced sedation of the dying person and in the interruption of all forms of treatment or nutrition until death intervenes: in any case, “since the intention in such cases is to kill the patient, terminal sedation must be considered a form of euthanasia and as such prohibited”. Moreover, “medical practice has demonstrated that, in spite of artificially induced sleep, the patient may still feel pain”, and, if terminally sedated in this way, “would be denied the chance of waking up to ask for help”: this is “profoundly unethical”. Donation of organs. The Church defines death through theological and philosophical arguments and “implicitly recognizes the so-called criterion of brain death”. After this has occurred “a donation of organs may represent the last free act of love of a person on earth” and, in view of the chronic shortage of organs for transplants, “the chance of saving the life of other fellowmen through our own dead body must be welcomed”. It is therefore desirable – say the Scandinavian bishops – that “consent to donation be established in full consciousness”. Pastoral project. The individual communities are urged to draw up a pastoral plan, “an apostolate of visits”, in such a way that the elderly and the sick “may receive regular visits and have the chance to receive communion if they are unable to go to church.” Patrizia Collesi