Saint Peter's University Hospital "Advance Directive for Health Care" could foster the impression that Catholic medical ethics are merely a set of sectarian idiosyncrasies.

In recent years, the Church has provided tremendously needed clarification about end of life care (cf., St John Paul II, 3/20/04, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2007, USCCB, 2009).

 

Saint Peter's University Hospital "Advance Directive for Health Care" includes a 1998 "Advance Directive for Health Care: A Catholic Perspective" approved by NJ's Catholic Bishops, but it also includes a highly inappropriate 1995 "Advance Directive for Health Care" from the Medical Society of New Jersey.  This could foster the impression that Catholic medical ethics are merely a set of sectarian idiosyncrasies.