UCAN, Dec 30 2009: Catholic Church leaders have applauded a hospital's decision not to allow a patient, who has been comatose for the past 36 years, to die by withholding nutrition from her.

Pro-euthanasia groups and others have demanded Aruna Shanbag, now 56, be allowed to die in view of her prolonged “vegetative state”.

Shanbag, a nurse at Mumbai's King Edward Memorial Hospital (KEM), was raped by a janitor in 1973. The dog chain he used to throttle her cut off the blood and oxygen supply to her brain.

One of the patient's friends, Pinki Verma, had approached the Supreme Court for permission to withdraw nutrition from Shanbag as her condition does not allow her to enjoy “quality of life.”

The court on Dec. 16 dismissed the plea saying the country's laws do not allow for such a measure.

Applauding the ruling, Auxiliary Bishop Agnelo Gracias of Bombay said Shanbag “should definitely be allowed to live.” Depriving her of nutrition would amount to murder by starvation, the prelate told UCA News.

He commended KEM for its willingness to care for Shanbag.

“Just because she has been in her present state for a long time and hence, she might not enjoy life, is certainly not a reason to kill her,” he stated.

Father Caesar D'Mello, who teaches moral theology at the archdiocese's St. Pius X Seminary, said allowing her to starve would amount to depriving her of what the Vatican has described as “proportionate means” of preserving life.

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has released several documents and statements on euthanasia.

In a 2007 statement, it said that “the administration of food and water even by artificial means is, in principle, an ordinary and proportionate means of preserving life” for patients in a vegetative state.

Father D'Mello said “disproportionate means” would involve great expense, risk and much pain to the patient.

Jeanette Pinto, who directs the Bombay Archdiocesan Human Life Committee, said the hospital has “shone like a beacon of light” in a society where “the culture of death prevails.”

“True compassion demands we love and support one another regardless of our functional capacity,” she said.

Virginia Saldanha, executive secretary of the FABC Office of Laity and Family, commended the “love and dedication” KEM has shown to Shanbag.

She, however, said the debate should consider issues such as the continued care of a comatose patient and the resources available to spend on such a patient.