Rome, Italy, Feb 11, 2009 / 12:39 pm
The president of the International Federation of Associations of Catholic Doctors, Simon Castellvi, has issued a statement on the case of Eluana Englaro, the Italian comatose woman who died after her feeding tubes were removed, saying, “Neither as doctors, nor as Christians nor as persons can we accept what was done to Eluana. A human being can never be left without food. Eluana was alive and they killed her.”
“Eluana could breath, eat, swallow and smile. And now she is longer in the land of the living,” the doctors said. “Eluana was a girl who needed water, air, nourishment, hygiene, affection. The nuns who were caring for her gave her affection, her mother gave her affection, so many Italians of good will gave her affection,” the Federation noted.
“We perfectly understand the suffering of the father. Eluana was like a little child who needs to be cared for. But Eluana was alive. To deny her nourishment and sedate her to the end, when she had no pain, is simply and candidly murder. Nothing or nobody can justify withdrawing her nourishment and administering a sedative to her, clearly in order to mercilessly accelerate the end of her days,” the organization stated.
Concluding its statement with the hope that “a similar case will not happen again,” the Federation said, “We condemn in the strongest terms the physical elimination of Eluana and we trust the leaders of countries will see the right to life as the basis for living together in peace.”