Defense Date

3-16-2023

Graduation Date

Spring 5-5-2023

Availability

One-year Embargo

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

Health Care Ethics

School

McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts

Committee Chair

Gerard Magill

Committee Member

Joris Gielen

Committee Member

Peter Ikechukwu Osuji

Keywords

Catholic Healthcare Ethics, Catholic Healthcare Mission, End-of-Life, Human Dignity, Palliative Sedation, Principle of Cooperation, Death, Dying

Abstract

Catholic healthcare ethics exists within a morality that is under regular heavy scrutiny. This is furthered by the healthcare space itself becoming more secular as the greater society itself moves beyond the religious origins of healthcare. However, this does not have to be relegated to a negative. Rather, this can become a strong call to action for Catholic healthcare to rally together and advocate for itself in the wider healthcare space. This is especially true as these challenges to the Catholic moral-ethical framework begin to question the presence of both Catholic and religious healthcare as whole. These challenges, if left unaddressed, can lead to the overall minimization of Catholic healthcare in the healthcare marketplace. One area in particular that should be considered for this adaptation and revisit is end-of-life ethics, in particular, the experience of a good death. In the broadest sense of healthcare ethics, there is no true definition of what a good death is. There is, instead, a patchwork of laws and professional position statements on how death is defined and what is acceptable in the provision of care in the dying process. There is a growing sentiment that this experience of death and dying must be brought under greater control through assisted death interventions, such as euthanasia and assisted suicide. However, the Catholic moral-ethical framework currently does not allow for these assisted death interventions. Furthermore, it is in conflict with the growing sentiments of control and planning in the experience of death as the Catholic moral tradition has a very strong history of how death and dying should be practiced. However, despite these clear histories and definitions, guidance on the ecclesial level has been scarce with minimal revisions to authoritative documentation in service of this changing landscape. This is where this dissertation finds itself and where it would like to contribute to the conversation. This dissertation aims to provide guidance on how the Catholic moral tradition informs Catholic healthcare ethics and mission in service of a re-evaluation of the experience of a good death. This is done by first starting broad in defining Catholic healthcare ethics and mission to understand how they then can be specified, revised, and focused into producing specific and novel approaches in ethics consultation, frameworks, and recommendations to contribute to the experience of a good death. This in turn will become a response to the larger challenges facing Catholic healthcare as a whole by suggesting new models for good ethics practice and further integration of Catholic healthcare ethics and mission. While this alone is not sufficient to address specific challenges that individual systems and institutions might face, it is a strong step toward further unification and professionalization of what it means for Catholic healthcare to be “Catholic” and differentiate itself amidst the sea of healthcare providers.

Language

English

Additional Citations

Dimas, Noah. "A Sustainable Alternative to Euthanasia." In Strands of Sustainability, edited by Gerard Magill, 165-09. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.

———. "A New Directive: An Ethical Analysis of the Ethical and Religious Directives and Catholic Healthcare Mission to Promote and Sustain Catholic Healthcare." Paper presented at the Graduate Research Symposium, Duquesne University, 2022.

———. "Catholic Terminal Sedation: A New Framework for Providing Terminal Palliative Sedation as a Requirement in Catholic Healthcare Organizations." Paper presented at the Graduate Research Symposium, Duquesne University, 2021.

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