Biomedicine can have "decidedly disconcerting" effects in chronic illness, the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Msgr Vincenzo Paglia, said Tuesday.
"Biomedicine's capacity to treat acute illnesses often entails the production of chronic pathological situations," he said.
Resuscitation techniques, for example, "on the one hand permit decisive lifesaving interventions, but on the other produce decidedly disconcerting effects.
"For example they lead sick people to remain in what are called 'vegetative states'.
"Increasingly, therefore, prolonging life may mean prolonging the time of co-existing with illness." Msgr Paglia said treatment should be brought into line "with the dignity of the human person".
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