Advanced Directive

MADISON  The past president of the Catholic Bar Associa­tion (CBA) encouraged local Catholic lawyers to urge their clients to fill out an Advanced Directive: a legal document that she said can do more than name a person to make medical decisions for them if they are not able; outline for doctors their desires for medical treatment; and put in place a “do not resuscitate” order. It also, she said, can enable Catholics and others to make clear their wishes for end-of-life care, based on the principles of their faith.

On Nov. 14, Ellen Dorn, past president of CBA, spoke about the Church’s view of Advanced Directives — called Instructional Directives in New Jersey — in her presentation at St. Paul Inside the Walls: the Diocesan Center for Evan­geli­zation at Bayley-Ellard here. Sponsoring the presentation was Advocati Christi, a diocesan fellowship of lawyers and judges, who are committed to the profession and their faith. Dorn is a solo practitioner in Dallas, Tx., who specializes in the law of wills, trusts, probate, tax exempt organizations, and charitable gift planning. A practicing Catholic, she led a project for the Dallas Diocese to craft legal documents, which guide end-of-life care in accord with Catholic teaching.

“With these Advanced Directives, we [in the Church] want to make sure that the patient is treated with the dignity that God has given him from the moment of conception. Life is a gift from God,” said Dorn, who called the proxy directive, which designates a person to make medical decisions if a patient is not able, “the most important document a client can sign. Doctors want this. They don’t want to make medical decisions for a patient alone. This document allows you to have your care entrusted to people who love you and will honor your religious beliefs,” she said.

Dorn also used her talk to promote the CBA, an organization of lawyers from around the U.S. that seeks to “give food [about Catholic teaching] to the minds and souls of our members, so they can better serve in the practice of their profession.” She encouraged local lawyers and judges to join the rather young CBA, which was incorporated in 2015. Today, it boasts 200 members and has held three national conferences, she said.

In her presentation at St. Paul’s, Dorn compared the Advanced Directive laws in both New Jersey and Texas. The laws take effect, when a patient has been deemed to lack the capacity to make medical decisions, she said.

In New Jersey, the law states that patients can refuse life-sustaining treatment, such as “any medical device or procedure, artificially provided fluids and nutrition, drugs, surgery or therapy that uses mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore or supplant a vital bodily function and thereby increase the expected life span of the patient.” But the Garden State’s law runs afoul of Catholic teaching, because it defines artificially provided fluids and nutrition as extraordinary treatment, while the Church considers them basic ordinary care, Dorn said.

Yet, the Church teaches that a patient “may refuse medical treatment that is excessively burdensome or would merely delay death needlessly;” is experimental and might not be effective; might cause more pain; or might worsen his or her condition. Also, medical professionals can decline to participate in treatment on moral grounds, Dorn said.

“The Church encourages the faithful to plan for their deaths — a natural part of the life process. The Church is pro-life, not anti-death,” said Dorn, who cautioned lawyers in helping clients draft Advanced Directives. “It’s impossible to write words to apply to every situation. Dying is personal. One size doesn’t fit all,” she said.

During her slide presentation, Dorn offered the audience several samples of legal language for Advanced Directives, including the following two:

• “I belong to the Catholic Church and I direct that those making decisions on my behalf be guided by the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. I direct them to consult my priest, my bishop and/or the National Catholic Bioethics Center [in Philadelphia] to help them in their decision making if necessary,” and

• “I direct to those making decisions on my behalf consider only the quality and effectiveness of the proposed treatment and not make any judgment about my quality of life.”

In an Advanced Directive, a client also can direct medical professionals not to withdraw food and water or administer a drug or lethal injection to hasten his or her death. He or she also can make sure to receive palliative care: a comprehensive plan that will not cure the medical condition but seeks to prevent or relieve physical, psychosocial and spiritual suffering, Dorn said.

In a question-and-answer session after Dorn’s talk on Advanced Directives, Father Manning, St. Paul’s executive director and diocesan vicar for evangelization, observed that our physical suffering “brings grace to the world” and that “our crosses save other people.”

“The world tries to avoid suffering. But Christ calls us to take up our cross. Our suffering is purifying,” Father Manning said. “When we allow people to minister to us [in our time of sickness], we help them satisfy their Christian call to serve others,” he said.

For the second half of her talk, Dorn spoke about CBA, which provides local affiliates and individual members with updates about its events and invites them to the annual national conferences. The CBA also plans to distribute educational materials and its position papers on various legal issues. The organization promotes such Catholic teachings as welcoming the neighbor, preferential treatment of the poor and Natural Law, she said.

“It [the CBA] is a source of fellowship and outreach for lawyers, who share how to keep the faith,” Dorn said.

Afterward, Father Manning told the audience that he enjoyed Dorn’s talk, which he said contained “things that are important for us to hear because we have family members [who have experienced or might experience these medical and moral issues].”