Assisted Suicide

[chevyontheriver]

Assume the ectopic pregnancy is hepatic. There is no parallel to salpingectomy when the child embeds in its mother's liver.

OK. A very rare permutation on an uncommon situation. What would YOU do?

 

[o_mlly]

OK. A very rare permutation on an uncommon situation. What would YOU do?

Dr. o_mlly would respect the mother's religious conviction: a direct abortion is always immoral. He would pray that she receives sufficient grace to endure the cross she must bear -- to save her soul she must give up her life.

 

[chevyontheriver]

Dr. o_mlly would respect the mother's religious conviction: a direct abortion is always immoral. He would pray that she receives sufficient grace to endure the cross she must bear -- to save her soul she must give up her life.

OK. That's your opinion. And I would agree that a direct abortion is always immoral. Yet I would think liver surgery would be indicated to save the woman from a dire medical problem. You said there was no parallel to salpingectomy, and you implied there would be no treatment available. This should not be considered at all a direct abortion because first an abortion is the deliberate removal of a live baby from the womb (not any other spaces), and second because this would be treatment for another serious condition with the undesired consequence of the death of the baby. So this woman does not need (or want) an abortion. This woman needs liver surgery. If she wishes not to receive such treatment her wishes should be respected. It would not be a suicide.

 

[o_mlly]

This should not be considered at all a direct abortion because first an abortion is the deliberate removal of a live baby from the womb (not any other spaces ...

No, Catholic teaching differs from your opinion. Any direct attack on the child is immoral regardless of the child's location. Salpingostomy, the surgical excision of the child from the fallopian tube, for instance, is a direct attack on the child and is immoral.

because this would be treatment for another serious condition with the undesired consequence of the death of the baby

Again, your opinion differs from Catholic teaching. The end never justifies evil means. (Third principle of the double effect: the good end intended must not proceed from the evil effect.)

 

[chevyontheriver]

No, Catholic teaching differs from your opinion. Any direct attack on the child is immoral regardless of the child's location. Salpingostomy, the surgical excision of the child from the fallopian tube, for instance, is a direct attack on the child and is immoral.

Again, your opinion differs from Catholic teaching. The end never justifies evil means. (Third principle of the double effect: the good end intended must not proceed from the evil effect.)

Could you explain all of this with reference to the National Catholic Bioethics Center and/or the work of Germain Grisez?

 

[o_mlly]

Could you explain all of this with reference to the National Catholic Bioethics Center and/or the work of Germain Grisez?

Out of respect to the OP, a new thread is necessary to continue.