Ordinary and Extraordinary Means of Conserving Life

by Cronin, Daniel A.

• ISBN13: 9780935372557
• ISBN10: 0935372555
• Edition: 50th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-12-15
• Publisher: Natl Catholic Bioethics Center

Summary

Originally published as a doctoral dissertation, Daniel A. Cronin's survey of moral theology on the topic of ordinary and extraordinary means remains the standard reference work on this critically important distinction for end-of-life decision-making. Cronin examines the major authors from the Catholic historical tradition on this important distinction, showing how the difference between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" has developed with the progress of medical science. Continuously cited since its first publication, this revised edition brings the classic text back into print.

Author Biography

Daniel A. Cronin was ordained a Catholic priest in 1952 and received his doctorate of sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1956. He served the Church in parochial ministry and positions at the Vatican. In 1970, he was named fifth bishop of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, and in 1991, third archbishop of the Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut. He retired from active ministry in 2003.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Editor's Preface	p. xv
Preface to the New Edition	p. xxiii
Preface to the Dissertation (1956)	p. xxv
The Duty to Conserve Life	p. 3
The Malice of Suicide	p. 4
Scripture, the Fathers, and the Church	p. 5
St. Thomas and Subsequent Theologians	p. 8
The General Rule and Exceptions	p. 18
Catholic Teaching	p. 19
Euthanasia and the Precept of Self-conservation	p. 28
Epikeia	p. 28
Dispensation	p. 30
Ignorance	p. 33
Principle of the Double Effect	p. 36
Moral Impossibility	p. 41
Ordinary and Extraordinary Means	p. 44
Conclusions	p. 45
The History of Ordinary and Extraordinary Means	p. 47
Thirteenth to Sixteenth Centuries	p. 47
Sixteenth to Late Seventeenth Centuries	p. 48
Late Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries	p. 66
Nineteenth Century to the Present	p. 93
Obligation in Choice of Means	p. 109
Preliminary Notions	p. 110
Natural and Artificial Means	p. 110
Ordinary Means versus Ordinary Medical Procedures	p. 118
The Common Elements	p. 119
The Nature of Ordinary Means	p. 122
Hope of Benefit	p. 122
Means in Common Use	p. 129
In Keeping with One's Status	p. 130
Not Too Difficult	p. 133
Reasonably Simple Means	p. 138
The Nature of Extraordinary Means	p. 139
A Certain Impossibility	p. 139
Great Effort or Excessive Hardship	p. 146
Excruciating or Excessive Pain	p. 148
Extraordinary Expense and the Very Best Means	p. 152
Intense Fear or Repugnance	p. 156
Summary of Moral Obligations	p. 158
Definitions of "Ordinary" and "Extraordinary"	p. 159
Obligation to Use Ordinary Means	p. 161
Obligation to Use Extraordinary Means	p. 162
Practical Considerations	p. 167
Risk in Modern Medical and Surgical Procedures	p. 167
Application to the Doctor	p. 174
The Virtue of Charity	p. 174
The Virtue of Justice	p. 176
The Doctor and Ordinary Means	p. 177
The Doctor and Extraordinary Means	p. 180
Additional Factors	p. 189
Summary Points	p. 201
Appendices: Address to an International Congress of Anesthesiologists on the Prolongation of Life, Pope Pius XII	p. 209
Declaration on Euthanasia, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith	p. 217
Questions of Ethics regarding the Fatally Ill and the Dying, Pontifical Council COR UNUM	p. 228
Address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, Pope John Paul II	p. 252
Report of a Study Group on the Artificial Prolongation of Life, Pontifical Academy of Sciences	p. 257
Bibliography	p. 261
Index of Authors	p. 271
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