Alternative to Euthanasia | Wellspring

Alternative to Euthanasia | Wellspring:

...a clear distinction must be made between what have traditionally been labeled “active” and “passive” forms of euthanasia. The latter term, “passive euthanasia,” refers generally to a withdrawing or withholding of life-support, rather than to active intervention. As such, it is a misnomer. Modern life-support technology can sustain biological existence even when the patient has lost autonomous cardio-respiratory functioning or has suffered the irreversible loss of upper brain activity. Although the brain stem may still be working, if the cerebral cortex is dead, life-support technology (ventilator, dialysis, antibiotics) is doing little more than sustaining a living cadaver. In liturgical language, this state signals that “the soul is struggling to leave the body,” and there is no longer personal existence in any meaningful sense.