Engaging the Culture of Death with the Gospel of Life: “Integrating the Catholic Faith in the Practice of Law and medicine” *
The lay Catholic, ordained, and religious today are faced with making legal and medical decisions that will affect their health care during a time of incapacity and eventually the final moments of their life. Often times the response to the need for sound legal and medical instructions is met by non-profit, pro-life organizations which provide legal forms such as powers of attorney. By and large, these documents are morally in line with Catholic Church teaching, but do very little for practical application of the law as it interfaces with medicine in the crucible of the emergency room and courtroom. Thus, the “culture of death” which pervades both the professions of law and medicine, and which veils itself in euphemisms such as a “patient's right to die,” creates pragmatic challenges to pre-printed legal documents which may vary from what are statutory in form for individual states. Thus, the promotion of “living wills” is tantamount to the expression of a fear and human desire to escape suffering at all costs. Accordingly, when Catholic physicians are informed of the legal and moral obligations owed to their patients through various estate planning documents, and Catholic lawyers seek to provide an integrated approach to drafting legal documents which include various provisions grounded in Catholic bioethical teaching, documents such as “living wills” and “advanced directives to physicians” ultimately are seen as unnecessary. Thus, engaging the culture of death is best accomplished when both physician and attorney work in their respective fields of practice by discussing the morality of various bioethical decisions with their patients and clients without fear of legal reprisal or recrimination.