Code Blue in the Vatican

One benefit of being up all night is being on top of the big news stories that happen while everyone else is sleeping. I've been checking up on the pope all night. And he is not doing well.

He has a tracheotomy from a few weeks ago, a feeding tube put in his nose a few days ago, and now they are saying he suffered "cardiocirculatory collapse." I'm honestly not sure what is meant by that phrase. To me, it means that his heart may have stopped and that they possibly had to give him drugs - or electric shocks even - to start it again. Not quite the same as a heart attack - that is when blood flow to the muscle of your heart gets blocked somehow, causing the muscle to malfunction. With something called a 'collapse,' I picture more of a situation where the heart just stops beating. His body is old and weak, and he has been putting up a fight for a long time.

What happens when people get old and frail and their bodies get tired of fighting? If left to their natural resources, most people would stop eating. It is a natural part of aging - just another way of your body slowing down. I of course don't have proof, but I think of it as a slow systems shut-down of sorts. Start giving your body less and less fuel, and eventually it just kind of drifts to a halt.

The pope, however, is a firm believer, as he wrote in 2004, that "The administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural way of preserving life ... not a medical procedure." And, since life should be preserved at all costs, it follows that all of those people who stop eating should get feeding tubes to prolong their lives.

I just don't think I agree with that. If that were true, we'd be force-feeding a lot more elderly people who don't necessarily want it. There are a lot of sons and daughters out there that want to keep their parents around for as long as possible for fear of losing that parent. There are also sons and daughters out there that want to keep their parents alive through the holidays, summer, vacation, whatever, until it gets to be a more convenient time for them to die.

There is a time when I think it is okay to let a person go. Not necessarily euthanasia (I am still undecided about that). Just a nice, peaceful, natural death. The way God intended. Slow systems shutdown.

Of course the question that comes then, is where to draw the line. But I don't have to answer that! Besides, it is 3:45 in the morning and I've been up for way too long to think about things like that.

As a last plug, I do encourage everyone out there, regardless of age, to have some sort of end of life plan and make sure that people know about it. (And I need to follow my own advice). The Pope is 84. Terri Schiavo was in her 20s when her tragic accident occurred. There is no way to know...