Requena_17VAT_requena_compassion

Medical compassion
at the end-of-life
European Region Meeting on End of life Questions
(Vatican, 16-17 November 2017)
Prof. Pablo Requena
Vatican Medical Association
Pontificia Università della Santa Croce
Roma
Medical compassion at the end-of-life
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
presentation outline:
a) “compassion” is not a reason at all
b) “unbearable suffering” is not a medical issue
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
Cambridge Dictionary: “a feeling of sympathy for
people who are suffering”
Oxford Dictionary: “sympathetic pity and concern
for the sufferings or misfortunes of others”
etimology: Old French from ecclesiastical Latin
compassio(n-)
compati (suffer with)
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
compassio, -onis
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
“a feeling of sympathy”
“sympathetic pity”
sentiment
NOT
reason
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
1. “compassion” is not a reason
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
Liezl L. Van Zyl
“Euthanasia, as a last
resort, can therefore be
justifiable as a
compassionate,
benevolent, and
respectful response to a
patient’s suffering”
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
Doctors should do…
neither more
NOR
less
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
medicine
human person
health
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
medicine
society
change
-open heart surgery
-euthanasia
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
medicine
society
change
-open heart surgery: improvent
-euthanasia: regression
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
with Hippocratic
Medicine…
the figure of
doctor
and
sorcerer
was separated
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
“I will not give
a lethal drug
to anyone
if I am asked,
nor will I advise
such a plan”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
reasons:
a) physical
b)psychological
emotional
c) social factors
d) the loss of self
meanings:
a) a cry for help
b) to end suffering
c) to spare others from the burden
d) to preserve self-determination
e) a will to live but not in this way
2. “unbearable suffering”
Pablo Requena
Pontificia Università Santa Croce
Doctors should do…
neither more
NOR
less
of the art of healing