Buenos Aires, Argentina, Jul 16, 2007 / 09:40 am
The director of the Institute for Bioethics of the Catholic University of La Plata, Juan Carlos Caprile, said this week that respect for terminally ill patients demands they be cared for and not killed.
Caprile commented on a proposed law in the province of Rio Negro that would allow terminally ill patients to put limits on their treatment in order not to prolong their illnesses. The director said palliative care is a better option because it helps terminally ill patients to avoid “extraordinary sufferings.”
He said the Institute is in agreement that disproportionate means should not be used if there is no chance for improvement, but he said, the Institute opposes the exclusion of food and hydration from basic care.
According to Caprile, “Reasonable therapeutic treatment is duly established in the so-called Palliative Care and helps avoid unnecessary suffering in these cases.”