6-7 POLST paradigm

BE IT RESOLVED,

that the Catholic Medical Association has grave concerns about the faulty assumptions, changes in purpose of care, changes in legal/medical/ethical standards, changes in decision making procedures, violation of the doctor-patient relationship and overall lessening of protection afforded specific populations by the POLST ( Physician’s Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) paradigm shift, and Be it resolved, the CMA recommits to ethical principles of medicine based on the inherent dignity of life, even in its frailty; to strengthening and restoring the physician-patient relationship; and to ethical medical decision-making processes. (2015)

6-8 Physician Assisted (Doctor Prescribed) Suicide

BE IT RESOLVED,

that the Catholic Medical Association officially join its voice to other organizations in opposition to any legislation advocating or mandating for Physician Assisted Suicide or any law permitting physician prescriptions or interventions for the explicit or implied purpose of a person ending his or her life. (2016)

6-9 Palliative Care as an alternative to physician assisted suicide and euthanasia

BE IT RESOLVED,

that the CMA supports all Catholic palliative care programs to respect the teachings of the Magisterium through the Papal encyclicals, especially the writings of Pope Saint John Paul II and the pronouncements of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith over the past 50 years, concerning the obligatory provision of proportionate care, including food and water, even if administered by artificial means, if no contraindications, as long as it fulfills its intended purpose of providing nutrition and hydration and would otherwise be the cause of death if withdrawn. (2018)F