I've seen a few of these reports floating around on the net lately about John Paul the great refusing a feeding tube and for some weird reason choosing a round about euthanasia. The vatican came out with an official statement about this recently. You can catch it at EWTN's link here: EWTN News

In an article Dr. Lina Pavanelli questioned the reasons for which John Paul II received nourishment from a feeding tube “only” starting on March 30, 2005, three days before his death. Pavanelli said the Pope clearly needed this treatment earlier. She claimed the Pope chose not to receive adequate nourishment in order to weaken himself and die in a sort of “assisted suicide.” Vatican officials told the Associated Press that the Pope did in fact use a feeding tube before March 30 but that it was not made known officially until that day. They pointed out Pavanelli has not had access to the Pope’s medical records and that her accusations are based merely on media reports. Father Thomas Williams told CBS News that euthanasia “is the intentional acceleration of the death of a person. And, I think, to allege that they intentionally accelerated Pope John Paul's death is really farfetched.