ROME — A doctor alleged Wednesday that Pope John Paul II violated Catholic teaching against euthanasia by refusing medical care that would have kept him alive longer — a charge immediately dismissed by Vatican officials.

In an article in the Italian journal Micromega, Dr. Lina Pavanelli, an anesthesiologist, questioned why John Paul was only outfitted with a nasal feeding tube on March 30, 2005, three days before he died. She said he clearly was in need of artificial nutrition well before then.

John Paul was rushed to Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital two times in February 2005 with breathing crises related to his Parkinson's disease; he was released for the last time March 13. He died in his Vatican apartment on April 2, from what the Vatican said was septic shock and cardiocirculatory collapse.

The Vatican announced March 30 that John Paul had been outfitted with a nasal feeding straw to improve his nutrition so he could recover strength.

However, Vatican officials said Wednesday that the tube had actually been inserted well before March 30 but that the procedure was only announced on that date — casting doubt on Pavanelli's core argument.

They disclosed the information in response to Pavanelli's charges, which they said weren't serious because she had no access to the medical records and based her accusations only on press releases and news reports.

At a news conference Wednesday, Pavanelli acknowledged she didn't have access to John Paul's medical records and acknowledged the likelihood that he may have been outfitted sooner than March 30 with a nasal feeding tube.

But she maintained her main argument that he was not given adequate nutrition soon enough. Confronted with evidence that the nasal tube had been inserted sooner, she then changed her core accusation, charging that John Paul should have been given a stomach feeding tube, since it has been proven to be more effective for longer periods of time.