Recently, two disturbing stories revealed unsettling trends. The first was a major expose bringing to light families who felt pressured to remove life support in order to preserve the viability of a loved one's organs. The second was a New York Times op-ed calling for the redefinition of death in order to make organ harvesting more efficient.
Whether a situation involves redefining death, encouraging patients to assisted suicide, pressuring families to "pull the plug," or the insidious practice of "slow codes" in which hospital staff delay resuscitation, we must shine a light on the indifference towards life that is permeating society.
We must keep in mind what St. John Paul II told us in the encyclical, Evangelium Vitae:
"Every individual, precisely by reason of the mystery of the Word of God Who was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14), is entrusted to the maternal care of the Church. Therefore every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church's very heart."
From the heart of the Church, let us pray that our society will be transformed into one that values the most vulnerable, whether in the hospital bed or in hospice.
Go forward bravely,
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