Catholic News Agency: “‘An Affront to Human Dignity’: Ethicists React to Death of Michael Hickson”
The NCBC’s John Di Camillo was quoted in a July 1, 2020, story by Christine Rousselle of Catholic News Agency:
Dr. John Di Camillo, an ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center told CNA that denying care based solely on a disability or presumptions about a patient’s quality of life is an “affront to the dignity of the human person and a tragedy of medical ethics.”
“A patient or surrogate decision-maker has the moral option to decline treatments that are extraordinarily burdensome or minimally beneficial,” Di Camillo said, “and clinicians have the duty to convey facts, expectations, and recommendations, but a refusal of care based on quality of life alone simply should not happen.”
