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Diocesan seminarian is part of procession

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
April 14, 2005

With the recent publicity surrounding the events and death of Terri Schiavo - the Florida woman who died after her feeding tube was removed - more people are asking questions about end-of-life issues and procedures.

According to Father Jerry Feierfeil, pastor at Nativity Parish in Sioux City, people 
CCW to host session on advance directives

FORT DODGE - "Advance Directive: What is it? Do you have one?" will be presented at Sacred Heart Parish Center on April 19 by Sister M. Gertrude Keefe, R.S.M., hospital chaplain at Trinity Health Systems in Fort Dodge. She will present the same program in two sessions: one to be offered from 1 to 3 p.m. and another slated for 7 to 9 p.m.

The Council of Catholic Women, Southeast Deanery of the Diocese of Sioux City, will host this event.

These two sessions are open to all people, young and old, as everyone is advised to have a personal advance directive.

Sister Trudy will present the latest information relating to advance directives, along with forms that can be completed at that time and be notarized if desired. She is expected to explain the formal and legal document, how to make decisions today for a later date, why one would make out a document now and if an attorney is necessary. The hospital chaplain will also provide information on organ donation.

In mid-afternoon the CCW Southeast Deanery will hold a meeting with registration at 3 p.m., followed by a meeting at 3:30 and potluck dinner at 5:30 p.m. All women of the deanery are invited to this portion of the day.

The two sessions on advance directives are open to anyone. For more information call (515) 576-2296.
want to know what the church has to say about it and why they haven't heard more about these issues until now.

"Events like this bring it to the forefront and emphasize the fact that it's a decision that most of us in one way or another will have to make for ourselves or for someone else and so people begin to start thinking more seriously about it," he said. "We tend to go from day to day almost denying our mortality until we begin to suspect that something might be going wrong. This makes it obvious that we have to think ahead and make some plans."

While not many people have asked him personally what they should do, he said he believes it is on the minds of a lot of people as he has overheard conversations where individuals have mentioned that they have done or plan to do a durable power of attorney and also plan to look into a living will.

"It is recommended that we take advantage of the law that allows us to have a durable power of attorney - that is a document that identifies someone who has the responsibility of making medical decisions in the event that you are so incapacitated that you cannot make them for yourself," said Father Feierfeil, who serves on the medical ethics board at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City.

The priest has named his brother as the Durable Power of Attorney and a priest friend is an alternate.

He mentioned that the point of this document is to choose a trustworthy individual who knows your moral convictions as well as the moral guidelines of the church and will make decisions on your behalf with these things in mind.

A living will, he noted, is a companion document that spells out what an individual would or would not find acceptable in the event that they are in an incapacitated state and someone else is making the medical decisions on their behalf.

The church rules out euthanasia - direct action that is intended solely to end life when death is not imminent. For example, Father Feierfeil said, giving a lethal injection of some kind just because the person is experiencing a lot of pain is not acceptable by the church.

"The church continues to make the distinction between extraordinary and ordinary means," he said. "Our obligation toward life is that we are to take all ordinary means of protecting life, sustaining life, of restoring health whenever possible. When it comes to extraordinary means - somewhat heroic measures to sustain life, to prolong life - we are not morally obligated to do that."

For instance, if an individual is in the final stages of a terminal illness and someone proposes an operation or expensive drug that may extend life for a few days or weeks without hope of reversing the course of the disease these actions would be considered extraordinary means.

"Hydration and nutrition fall into the category of ordinary means," said Father Feierfeil. "Those things we would be expected to do except in some specific and extreme circumstances."

In the case of Schiavo, he said it appeared that she was not in the final stages of life. The water and food she was given, although by artificial means via the feeding tube, was sustaining her life at the same level it had been for years.
End-of-Life ethics focus of teleconference

The ethical issues associated with end-of-life care will be the focal point of the 12th annual "Living with Grief" satellite teleconference on April 20, at 12:30 p.m. at Western Hills Area Education Association in Sioux City.

Sponsored nationally by the Foundation for End-of-Life Care, the teleconference will be sponsored locally by Mercy Medical Center-Sioux City and Hospice of Siouxland.

An audience of healthcare providers, Hospice staff, home health workers, long-term care professionals, social workers, clergy and others taking part in the teleconference will consider the social perspectives of medical ethics, how various healthcare settings influence ethical decisions and how cultural differences influence ethical choices.

At the conclusion of the satellite teleconference, there will be a local panel discussion of end-of-life ethical issues at 3 p.m. in Room A of the Western Hills AEA building.

Continuing education credits will be available for nurses, social workers and other professionals.

The registration fee for the teleconference is $20.

For more information about the upcoming teleconference, contact the Educational Services Department at Mercy Medical Center, (712) 279-2152, or visit the Professional Education pages of the hospital's web site, www.mercysiouxcity.com.
"It did not seem that there was a sudden medical crisis that meant death was at her doorstep and therefore there was a good reason to terminate those things because they were becoming too painful or burdensome. It does not seem that the conditions were present to withdraw those things that we consider ordinary," said Father Feierfeil.

He pointed out that with medical advancements, some procedures that were considered extraordinary in the past are now deemed ordinary. For instance, years ago when someone was experiencing renal failure to seek a kidney transplant was considered extraordinary. Today with the success of that procedure, Father Feierfeil said it would be expected that the effort be made to find a donor.

At the same time, because of medical advances and knowing that extraordinary efforts have sometimes been unnecessarily used to prolong life, the priest mentioned that people can become fearful of being kept artificially alive, prolonging the experience of dying when death would have been acceptable.

"Some people have elected euthanasia as an alternative and that is a tragic moral choice," he said.

Father Feierfeil said that there is good in the acceptance of physical pain, emotional pain and even spiritual pain.

"Life is so precious that we simply don't let go of it when it becomes difficult and challenging," he said. "There is a witness to the gift of life itself. Many people of religious faiths see a strong resonance between their own suffering and the physical suffering of Jesus crucified. It is very obvious that the Holy Father made reference to that many times."

He recommended that people of strong religious faith choose a doctor and a medical facility where Catholic moral principles are understood and regularly practiced.

"It is important to me that my own physician is a Catholic doctor whose own moral convictions are very consistent with mine and the teaching of the church," said Father Feierfeil.

If people are interested in more information about the durable power of attorney and living wills, they may ask their physician, attorney or pastor. Hospitals and long-term care facilities may also offer assistance with advance directives.

He also pointed out that after a 1991 law required all health care institutions receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to inform persons about their right to have advance directives, the four Iowa bishops drafted a document to offer guidance in this area. It also contains samples. Check it out on the diocesan Web site - scdiocese.org.

"With all the interest out there, I look for more resources to be coming forward," said Father Feierfeil.