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Power of Attorney for Health Care
Advance health care planning is necessary not only because of modern medical advancements, but most especially because we may find ourselves unable to express our wishes about the use of a particular treatment at the end of life.
That being said, not all forms of advance health care planning are equal.
Power of Attorney for Health Care (POA) is the best form of advance directive, allowing for real-time decisions to be made following Catholic values and principles.
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Additional Resources
Wisconsin Health Care Power of Attorney Form
Catholic/non-Catholic POA Addenda (WI Bishop's Conference)
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Food and Water at the End
Food and water fundamentally differ from life-sustaining treatments. Whereas food and water are essentially ordered toward sustaining life, life-sustaining treatments are accidentally ordered toward sustaining life.
This difference is borne out by the fact that everyone requires food and water to stay alive, although not everyone requires life-sustaining treatments to stay alive.
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Managing pain at the end of life
Let's consider those therapies that, although they do not offer the benefits of curing or sustaining life, are used to make a person more comfortable. Such therapies fall under the umbrella of what’s often called palliative care.
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Organ Donation
An ever-emerging issue at the end-of-life is organ donation and the leaving of one’s body to “science.” Since the first successful organ transplant in 1954, organ donation and its morality have been an ongoing topic of discussion. While complex and nuanced, a general sketch of organ donation can be useful.
A major distinction is between living and non-living donors. Because they are still alive, living donors are limited as to what they can donate.
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Important Questions and Decisions
We should all be prepared for those difficult situations when end-of-life medical decisions need to be made.
Modern medical advancements have given us wonderful opportunities to bring about cures, to slow the progression of diseases, and to alleviate many symptoms.
These same advancements, however, sometimes create difficult decisions when treatment would only secure a precarious and burdensome prolongation of life.
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