VATICAN CITY, 20 OCT 2008 (VIS) - At midday today, the Pope received participants in the national congress of the Italian Surgical Society, who are meeting to consider the theme: "Towards a Surgery that Respects the Sick".
After highlighting how, in the past, it was possible only to alleviate the suffering of the sick, whereas today, thanks to the advances of science and technology, it is possible to cure them, the Holy Father called attention to the risk of "abandoning patients at the moment in which it is felt impossible to obtain appreciable results".
Although it may no longer be possible to hope for a cure, "that person's suffering can be relieved", because patients "have a dignity which must be honoured, and which constitutes the necessary foundation of all medical activity. Respect for human dignity, in fact, requires unconditional respect for each individual human being, born or unborn, healthy or sick, whatever their condition may be".
The Pope referred to the importance of doctors discovering "the most appropriate means to communicate with each patient. Such means of communication, while respecting the truth of the facts, will aim to sustain hope which is an essential element of therapy. ... Patients want to be listened to, not just subjected to sophisticated diagnoses".
"On the one hand, it is undeniable that the will of the patient must be respected, without forgetting, however, that the individualistic exaltation of autonomy leads to an unrealistic, and certainly impoverished, reading of human reality. On the other hand, the professional responsibility of doctors must bring them to suggest treatments that aim at the true good of patients, with an awareness that their specific competencies generally make them better capable of evaluating the situation than the patients themselves".
Benedict XVI concluded by stressing the need "to promote a sense of responsibility among family members towards their sick relative. This is an important factor in order to avoid increasing the sense of alienation that a person inevitably suffers if entrusted to a form of medical care that is highly technological but lacks sufficient human sentiment".
AC/HUMAN DIGNITY ILLNESS/... VIS 20081020 (360)
After highlighting how, in the past, it was possible only to alleviate the suffering of the sick, whereas today, thanks to the advances of science and technology, it is possible to cure them, the Holy Father called attention to the risk of "abandoning patients at the moment in which it is felt impossible to obtain appreciable results".
Although it may no longer be possible to hope for a cure, "that person's suffering can be relieved", because patients "have a dignity which must be honoured, and which constitutes the necessary foundation of all medical activity. Respect for human dignity, in fact, requires unconditional respect for each individual human being, born or unborn, healthy or sick, whatever their condition may be".
The Pope referred to the importance of doctors discovering "the most appropriate means to communicate with each patient. Such means of communication, while respecting the truth of the facts, will aim to sustain hope which is an essential element of therapy. ... Patients want to be listened to, not just subjected to sophisticated diagnoses".
"On the one hand, it is undeniable that the will of the patient must be respected, without forgetting, however, that the individualistic exaltation of autonomy leads to an unrealistic, and certainly impoverished, reading of human reality. On the other hand, the professional responsibility of doctors must bring them to suggest treatments that aim at the true good of patients, with an awareness that their specific competencies generally make them better capable of evaluating the situation than the patients themselves".
Benedict XVI concluded by stressing the need "to promote a sense of responsibility among family members towards their sick relative. This is an important factor in order to avoid increasing the sense of alienation that a person inevitably suffers if entrusted to a form of medical care that is highly technological but lacks sufficient human sentiment".
AC/HUMAN DIGNITY ILLNESS/... VIS 20081020 (360)
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