A Dialogue between Hindu and Catholic Perspectives in Taking Care of Newborns at their End-of-Life

Title

A Dialogue between Hindu and Catholic Perspectives in Taking Care of Newborns at their End-of-Life

Creator

Dinicola GA

Publisher

Asian Bioethics Review

Date

2024

Subject

Neonatology; India; Hinduism; Catholicism; End-of-life

Description

Hinduism is considered one of the most ancient religions in the world. Although the technological innovation of modernization has undermined the reliance on their traditions, Hindus may still rely on Hindu Scripture when making decisions. From their standpoint, contrary to Western medicine, human lives cannot be reduced to statistical and empirical facts. They focus more on preserving the spirit, rather than considering survival as one of the goals of medicine. Consequently, when a preterm infant is born, Hindu parents might struggle to understand the goals of Western neonatologists. This divergence may create misunderstandings when discussing end-of-life decisions. Since they value relational aspects to be of utmost importance, they may accept treatments only in the likelihood of good neurological outcomes. Being able to interact allows Hindus to act virtuously with the aim of purifying their soul toward moksa. When it comes to end-of-life decisions on behalf of newborns, Hindu parents may opt to forgo treatments and let the baby peacefully die, while praying for their soul to have a better rebirth. This paper aims to evaluate quality-of-life assessment in the Hindu tradition in comparison with the Catholic tradition. It draws parallelisms between these two different religions to investigate whether an inter-religious dialogue is possible. This work will help Catholic, and more broadly Western, doctors to have a better understanding of the Hindu end-of-life views.

Rights

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

Citation List Month

June List 2024

Collection

Citation

Dinicola GA, “A Dialogue between Hindu and Catholic Perspectives in Taking Care of Newborns at their End-of-Life,” Pediatric Palliative Care Library, accessed February 7, 2025, https://pedpalascnetlibrary.omeka.net/items/show/19612.