VATICAN - The Church has never opposed the use of opiates for terminally ill persons: “palliative treatment”, is the theme of the 19th International Conference organised by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Healthcare Workers and the Sick

Wednesday, 10 November 2004

Vatican City (Fides Service) - Punctual as usual, the annual appointment organised by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral care of Healthcare workers and the Sick, will open tomorrow 11 November in the Synod Hall in the Vatican. This 19th International Conference which will last until 13 November will bring together about 700 participants to discuss palliative treatment. During the press conference of presentation yesterday at the Holy See Press Room, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, President Pontifical Council for the Pastoral care of Healthcare workers and the Sick, began by saying “euthanasia and relentless therapy are not fictitious they happen every day and demand a valid response on the part of the Catholic Church”.
The President explained that “the conference will focus on three main items: the situation of palliative medicine today; this treatment in the light of the Gospel and interreligious dialogue; methods”.
In his intervention the Secretary of the Pontifical Council, Bishop Redrado, stressed the importance of “holistic integral treatment”; whereas after quoting the official World Health Organisation definition of palliative medicine (see http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/), the Council’s under secretary, Father Felice Ruffini underlined that fraternal love, closeness to the sick and human warmth is the only valid palliative treatment. Padre Ruffini spoke of his own experience when, as a young Camillian Brother, he helped many terminally ill patients to face death peacefully thanks to loving care which is fundamental.
One of the participants, Dr. Zagonel, specialist in oncology end haematology at the St John of God Brothers Hospital on the Tiber Island in Rome, stressed four main points: recognition of palliative medicine as a general form of medicine; diffusion of correct information on this type of treatment and structures where it is available; more research to develop new methods on special drugs and models to meet patients’ needs; greater economic and financial commitment.
Recalling that the Church, as Pope Pius XII said in 1956, has never been opposed to using opiates for terminally ill patients, Dr. Maurizio Evangelista, researcher at the Institute for Anaesthetics and Pain Therapy the Medicine and Surgery Faculty of the Sacred heart University in Rome, said that palliative therapy must always be verified and agreed on with the patient and the family and that at a certain point the doctor “must let other people, such as a spiritual father, take over”. Dr Simona Castellano, physiatrist at the Centre for Paraplegics in Ostia (Rome), spoke on methods applied to patients.


(AP) (10/11/2004 Agenzia Fides; Righe:38; Parole:464)


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