Module 5 · Human Life

Protecting Human Life — Beginning & End of Life

How should future physicians respond when human life is vulnerable?

Introduction

Why this module exists

The most demanding questions in medicine arrive when life is most fragile. This module identifies the beginning- and end-of-life questions students will face, and teaches how to investigate them with clinical accuracy and moral clarity.

State Catholic teaching on the protection of human life
Distinguish proportionate from disproportionate treatment
Discuss participation, cooperation and referral with precision
Accompany frightened patients without abandoning conviction

AbortionMaternal healthEctopic pregnancyFetal diagnosisParticipation and cooperationReferral questionsEuthanasia and assisted suicidePalliative care and pain managementOrdinary vs extraordinary treatmentWithholding and withdrawing treatmentDNR and advance directivesSuffering and dignity near death

Session

Formation session video

Stage 5 session — Human Life

Recording is published by the program director after the Friday session.

Required

Readings

Catechism

CCC §§2270–2275 — Respect for human life
CCC §§2276–2279 — Euthanasia and end of life

Optional

Deeper study

Palliative care definition World Health Organization

Browse the full Bioethics Library

Reflection

Answer honestly — this is private

Which of these questions do you feel least prepared to answer?

What do you need to learn clinically before you can reason morally about it?

Discussion

For the cohort

Is withdrawing a disproportionate treatment the same as causing death?
How do we speak to a patient who is terrified and receiving conflicting advice?

Prayer

This week's prayer

“Where life is most fragile, make me steady, honest, and present.”

Interactive medical case

Proportionate Care in the ICU

An 84-year-old man with advanced pulmonary fibrosis and progressive multi-organ failure has been ventilated for nine days without improvement. His daughter, holding a signed advance directive, asks whether stopping the ventilator would 'be killing him.' The attending asks the student to help explain the options to the family.

Personal application

This week, in your own life

Write the words you would actually say to the patient in Module 5's case.

Ministry application

This week, in the cohort

Invite a palliative care physician to speak to the cohort.

Knowledge check

Discontinuing a treatment that is burdensome and no longer proportionate is best described as:

Notes

Your module notes

Notes and reflections save automatically on this device.

The question beneath everything

What kind of doctor are you becoming?