8
integrity and confidentiality (Caputo and Mellon 1999, 253). This list of course is not
exhaustive.
A growing awareness of the religious contributions to ethical principles together
with the direct witness of Scripture can guide us through the this labyrinth. The advice
Drane gives to staff in health care facilities can be applied to members of ethics
committees:
Right and wrong for health care deliverers are certainly a matter of
individual conscience but never just that. Staff members are either
professionals or semi-professionals, and therefore they belong to a
community of persons defined by high ethical standards to which they are
publicly committed...(1997, 4).
Evangelicals would take this a step further. Our high ethical standards are derived from
our understanding of God and his words. We are accountable not only to a health care
community, but also to the church, a community of faith. Kotva adds that those who are
called upon to make medical ethics decisions tend to produce "better decisions--that is,
more thoroughly Christian decisions--when they experience their faith communities'
support and know themselves reconciled to God" (n. d., 12).
Case Presentations
Two recent court cases highlight the kinds and complexities of issues related to
patients who are seriously but not terminally ill.
3
The first was adjudicated in 1995 and
concerned the case of Daniel Fiori. Daniel was admitted to a skilled nursing facility
following head injuries that left him in a "persistent vegetative state" (PVS). The court
defined PVS as a "twilight zone of suspended animation where death commences while