The NACN-USA Shares the Concerns of The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) for Charlie Gard and His Parents

NCBC Statement on the Charlie Gard Case

The NCBC statement reminds us to look to the teachings of the Catholic Church for guidance. This is excellent advice. They can be found, for example, in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and in papal documents such as Evangelium Vitae, as well as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. As the NCBC states, cases that rely on media reports, like this, are difficult to analyze. We simply do not know all the facts and probably never will. Furthermore, when cases become highly publicized and emotionally charged, it makes it even more difficult to sort through even the facts that we know. Thus, we need to be humble in our judgments and pray for grace and wisdom.

From the perspective of the Catholic nurse, besides knowing the facts of the case and understanding the teachings of the Church, this case reminds us of the importance of recognizing and acknowledging the suffering of everyone involved, in particular Charlie and his parents. This means, besides doing all we can to respect life and alleviate suffering, taking on the difficult but essential task of finding proper meaning in suffering. These are times when people tend to ask profound questions like, “How can a good and loving God allow something like this to happen?” Here is where the Catholic nurse accompanies the patient and parents in their suffering, advocates for them, such that they do not feel abandoned by God or by anybody else, but especially not abandoned by God. We need to be humble in our judgments and pray for grace and wisdom.