Medicine and End of Life Issues

The November 2010 issue of U.S. Catholic focuses on many issues surrounding the end of life and funerals. One particularly good article is Internal Medicine which focuses on end of life ethics. A couple points resonated with me. One was how spirituality and medicine were so connected for so long. The earliest healers were both priests and doctors. Jesus healed both body and soul. It is only in recent years that the two have been separated. It is important for the two to inform each other and work together for the good of the whole person. A second point is the one the article ends with:

Catholics also need to remember it's OK to let go. . . We're pro-life, but we're also pro-eternal life, and we have been for centuries, from the beginning.