“Vital Testament” and “Therapeutic Obstination” are the two main themes to be debated in a colloquium organized by the Association of Portuguese Catholic Doctors (AMCP), with the support of the Pastoral da Saúde of the Diocese of Algarve and the Medical Association.
The event will take place at the Hospital de Faro, on April 17, at 14:30 pm, and will be attended by university professor Alexandre Laureano Santos (Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon) and Father Mário de Sousa (Parson of Portimão).
“These are two topics that are very much in vogue today, in political circles and in civil society”, says José Abílio dos Santos Matos, president of the Diocesan Nucleus of the Algarve of AMCP, explaining that a living will “is a disposition that a person will leave in life, when he is in the fullness of his physical and mental capacities and which allows him to decide on a possible medical action in a situation in which he may be losing consciousness or at risk of life».
The president of AMCP-Algarve also says that "people, to avoid situations of great suffering, create this living will, asking them to suppress treatments or not administer treatments to lose consciousness and to prolong life."
Santos Matos also refers that this decision making “is very difficult, as it will take place in a very different context, in which the person has never been”, a fact that “many times creates a dissonance between what is and what should be”.
Therapeutic Obstination is, on the other hand, a behavior assumed by doctors, "a situation of exaggeration of treatments, when there is little feasibility of prolonging life with quality", explains Santos Matos, adding that, "in the end, it ends up being prolonged the suffering of the person and of the family, maintaining a hope when there is no solution in sight, according to human and medical criteria».
Reflection and analysis on these themes will be guided by Alexandre Laureano Santos and Father Mário de Sousa.
Alexandre Laureano Santos, cardiologist at the Hospital de Santa Maria, in Lisbon, where he was head of the cardiology service.
He holds a PhD in internal medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, and currently teaches at the same Faculty and at the Catholic University.
He is also Vice-President of the European Federation of Catholic Doctors and consultant to the Episcopal Commission for Social Communications, as well as being one of the oldest members of the AMCP.
He has developed several works in the area of medical ethics and the defense of life.
Padre Mário de Sousa is a priest of the Diocese of Algarve, who completed his theological training at the Instituto Superior de Teologia in Évora and has a degree in Theology from the Catholic University.
Later, he studied Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, receiving a Doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
He is professor of New Testament courses at the Higher Institute of Theology of Évora and pastor of the Parish of Portimão.
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