The Issue -- Why do Unresponsive Patients Still Matter? -- Are We Morally Obliged to Feed PVS Patients Till Natural Death? -- Caring for Persons in the “Persistent Vegetative State” and Pope John Paul II’s March 20 2004 Address “On Life-Sustaining Treatments and the Vegetative State” -- Food and Fluids: Human Law, Human Rights and Human Interests -- Philosophers Address the Issue -- Quality of Life and Assisted Nutrition -- Towards Ethical Guidelines for the Use of Artificial Nutrition and Hydration -- Understanding the Ethics of Artificially Providing Food and Water -- The Ethics of Pope John Paul’s Allocution on Care of the PVS Patient: A Response to J.L.A. Garcia -- Symposium on the Views of Fr. Kevin O’Rourke, O.P. -- Reflections on the Papal Allocution Concerning Care For PVS Patients -- The Papal Allocution Concerning Care for PVS Patients: A Reply to Fr. O’Rourke -- Response to Patrick Lee -- The Morality of Tube Feeding PVS Patients: A Critique of the View of Kevin O’Rourke, O.P. -- Concluding Reflections -- Ten Errors Regarding End of Life Issues, and Especially Artificial Nutrition and Hydration.

Pope John Paul II surprised much of the medical world in 2004 with his strongly worded statement insisting that patients in a persistent vegetative state should be provided with nutrition and hydration. While many Catholic bioethicists defended the Pope’s claim that the life of all human beings, even those in a persistent vegetative state or a coma, was worth protecting, others argued that the Pope’s position marked a shift from the traditional Catholic teaching on the withdrawal of medical treatment at the end of life. The debate among Catholic bioethicists over the Pope’s statement only grew more intense during the controversy surrounding Terry Schiavo’s death in 2005, as bioethicists on both sides of the debate argued about the legitimacy of removing her feeding tubes. This collection of essays by some of the most prominent Catholic bioethicists addresses the Pope’s statements, the moral issues surrounding artificial feeding and hydration, the refusal of treatment, and the ethics of care for those at the end of life.