Conjoined Twins and Catholic Moral Analysis: Extraordinary Means and Casuistical Consistency

Abstract

This article draws upon the Roman Catholic distinction between "ordinary" and "extraordinary" means of medical treatment to analyze the case of "Jodie" and "Mary," the Maltese conjoined twins whose surgical separation was ordered by the English courts over the objection of their Roman Catholic parents and Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster. It attempts to shed light on the use of that distinction by surrogate decision makers with respect to incompetent patients. In addition, it critically analyzes various components of the distinction by comparing the reasoning used by Catholic moralists in this case with the reasoning used in other cases that raise similar issues, including women facing crisis pregnancies who prefer abortion to adoption and the Indiana "Baby Doe" case.

Conflicts Between Parents and Health Professionals About a Child’s Medical Treatment: Using Clinical Ethics Records to Find Gaps in the Bioethics Literature

“…Some prominent cases were described in multiple papers. For example, the case of Charlotte Wyatt was discussed extensively (e.g., Brazier 2004;Glover 2006;McPhee and Stewart 2005a, b, c;Stewart 2007) as was the case of conjoined twins Mary and Jodie (e.g., Appel 2009;Cowley 2003;Glover 2006;Harris 2003;Kaveny 2002;Nobbs 2007). Once case descriptions that were clearly describing the same child were grouped together, there were seventy-one separate cases described.…”