From Brother Edward Egan CFC SIR — With regard to

the article by Alice Thomas Ellis, methinks the lady doth protest too much. granted to the attorney, must be obeyed and is, accordingly, legal. If the law ceases to regard such termination of life as illegal then Clause 58 will not, of itself, change that.
To say that the Mental Capacity Bill will empower patients is a cruel deception. Proper and appropriate treatment for an incapacitated patient requires no further regulation by the law. This is already governed by the common law principle of necessity and the common law which requires treatment only in the patient’s best clinical interests. What is the mischief that the Bill seeks to address? The crime, it seems, is providing sustenance and ordinary care and treatment to the mentally incapacitated; the punishment criminalising medical staff for refusing to terminate a human life.
Importantly, compulsory sterilisation and forced abortion of the mentally incapacitated, currently a thing controversially authorised by the High Court, would be in the hands of a host of new parties. Non-therapeutic research, although omitted from the 2003 Draft Bill and a matter that attracted much opposition in 1995, makes an appearance once again. The details of these arrangements are being left to indeterminate Codes of Practice.
The Pope, in a recent address, has made it clear that even in the case of PVS patients “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act. Its use, furthermore, should be considered, in principle, ordinary Her diatribe against our contemporary Church trends indicates her unenlightened and reactionary stance.
She criticises religious sisters for dressing in a modern and sensible way that signifies that they are truly sisters to their fellow men and women. Many people were alienated by the old medieval garb that could signify sanctimonious separateness and superiority.
Her criticism of Creation spirituality and her regressive championing of Original Sin theology is wrong. Many people are liberated by the concept of Original Blessing and the Creator’s wonderful gifts as a counterbalance to the over-emphasis on sin and the need and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory, insofar as and until it is seen to have attained its proper finality, which in the present case consists in providing nourishment to the patient and alleviation of his suffering.” This Bill would permit, and indeed legally protect, routine abuse and termination of the life of the vulnerable and would create an inconsistent body of law with conflicting obligations for health professionals. It compromises the principle that all people have an intrinsic dignity irrespective of their mental impairment or physical condition, one of the cornerstones of Christian civilisation, enshrined not only in the ancient common law of England, but also in the Hippocratic tradition of medicine and in international law properly understood.
Yours faithfully, DR CHRIS HARRISON Master, Guild of Catholic Doctors DR SEYMOUR SPENCER DR MICHAEL JARMULOWICZ Vice-Chairman, Catholic Union DR PHILIP HOWARD DR IAN JESSIMAN DR ROBERT HARDIE TERENIA BROSNAN JAMES BOGLE Chairman, Catholic Union DR JACQUELINE LAING Senior Lecturer in Law, LMU REV HUGH MACKENZIE National Chaplain, Guild of Catholic Doctors REV TIMOTHY FINIGAN Chairman, Association for Priests for the Gospel of Life London W12 for the Son’s Redemption.
The “tawdry baubles of paganism” were there aeons before Christianity in all continents, providing a more feminine,peaceful and eco-friendly world until the arrival of the more patriarchal, war-mongering and exploitative last two millennia of so-called Christendom.
I suggest that Alice Thomas Ellis might benefit from reading modern theology and Scripture studies (and also The Tablet), instead of dragging us back to the dark ages of “the fortress Church”.
Yours faithfully, EDWARD EGAN [email protected] SIR — When I was hospitalised for 14 nights earlier this year, I was never in danger of death; but I was in severe shock due to a serious accident.
While in resus I asked note to be taken of the fact that I am a Catholic. I asked about six or seven times during the following nine days for the chaplain to be told of my presence. Finally, on Good Friday, I telephoned the priest myself saying that while not in danger as it was Easter I should much like to see him, if at all possible. He told me that he had just left the hospital; furthermore he had been there on no less than four occasions during the week. He came to see me immediately, bringing me Holy Communion.
The day before I came home, I looked at my hospital notes to see that my religion was written as “Church of England”.
I have complained to the hospital authorities and my bishop is also looking into the matter.
Yours faithfully PAMELA DEAN Richmond, Surrey