On the surface the Pathway looks like a rational way of dealing with patients at the end of life, when comfort is of more use than medical care and a competent patient is under no obligation to accept extraordinary measures to prolong life. Pope John Paul II, himself, decided to decline heroic methods to extend his life when it became obvious that he would not recover. The operative terms here are “competent” and “accept.”

In practice it is an entirely different set of facts. It is a roach-motel for patients deemed to have a terminal condition. They check in but they don’t check out.