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President
Gian Luigi Gigli, MD
Dept. of Neuroscience
Ospedale Santa Maria
della Misericordia
33100 Udine, Italy
9 0432 552721
39 0432 552719
gigli.gianluigi@aoud.sanita.fvg.it
Vicepresident
George Isajiw, MD
7012 Penarth Avenue
Upper Darby
PA 19082-3711, USA
1-610-6264397
1-610-3528833
gisajiw@cathmed.com
Secretary General
François Blin, MD
37, rue du Gué d’Orient
95470 Saint Witz, France
33 1 34685576
frblin@club-internet.fr
Treasurer
Alejandro R. Ferrero, MD
Junin 1120
1113
Buenos Aires, Argentina
54 1 48237300
54 1 44754312
ferrero@teletel.com.ar
Ecclesiastical Assistant
Rev. P. Vitor Feytor Pinto
Rua da Beneficiencia, 7
1000 Lisboa, Portugal
51 21 7931435
351 21 7954212
pfeytor.pinto@mail.sitepac.pt
Immediate Past President
Walter Osswald, MD
Rua do Passeio Alegre, 822, 2T
4150 Porto, Portugal351 22 6184001 |
SAVE TERRI’S LIFE
Statement
from FIAMC for Press Release
Terri Schindler-Schiavo
is condemned to die of starvation and dehydration unless a new
court decision intervenes.
She is not guilty of
any crime, except to be a burden for her husband and for a
selfish society. She is not even clinically in a permanent
vegetative state, but she has been refused a re-examination of
her clinical condition.
The legal basis for
this inhuman decision is that she allegedly had once expressed
the wish not to be fed artificially. However, her parents and
siblings contend that this is not her will and that she, in
fact, would follow the clear
teaching of the Catholic Church
about assisted nutrition and hydration. They raise the
possibility that her husband and legal guardian has
manifestedly abused her.
However, the real core
of the problem is the attempt to decide about the right to life
of a human being, not on the basis of her/his personal dignity,
but on an external evaluation of the
quality of life.
The World Federation
of Catholic Medical Associations is deeply concerned for the
possible consequences of such a precedent setting decision in
the United States system of law. In fact, if Terri, an innocent
person, can be condemmed to death, every person whose life will
be considered of insufficient quality by a guardian or the
court will be in danger of euthanasia performed by withdrawal of
basic and ordinary care.
The importance of this
case goes beyond this deplorable circumstance. It will open the
floodgates to euthanasia in the United States, at all ages,
without even a legislative decision.
The World Federation
of Catholic Medical Associations, aware of the risks of this
decision for both society and the future of the medical
profession, strongly appeals to the United States authorities to
react immediately and effectively to save Terri’s life and to
avoid the inevitable consequences.
The World Federation
of Catholic Medical Associations appeals to the Bishops of the
United States to
mobilize every resource and influence of the Catholic Church to
counteract this impending tragedy.
Following the teaching
of Pope John Paul II and the evidence of medical sciences, we
believe that no human being, including those in the permanent
vegetative state, can be denied the respect due to a human
person by provision of food and water, without which any person,
regardless of his/her state of health, would be condemned to
death.
Such a perversion of
medicine will be the source of discrimination against other
human beings, with enormous risks for human rights and
democracy.
Gian Luigi Gigli,
M.D. Rome, 6 March, 2005
President of FIAMC |
