The twentieth century saw the greatest advances made in science, technology, and medicine that the world has ever known. Building on the conceptual discoveries of the previous three centuries, we have wrought wonders unimagined in every decade of that century, and continue on unabated in this new century and new millennium. If there has been [...]
Archive for the ‘Biomedical Ethics’ Category
Divided Motherhood in the Age of Discovery
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Bishops, Dignity, Motherhood on May 13, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Sebelius and Paying for Obamacare Through Death and Nonexistence
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Eugenics, Euthanasia, tagged Contraception, Eugenics, HHS, Obama, Sebelius on March 25, 2012 | 9 Comments »
Recently, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius dropped her guard and gave the American people a good insight into how it is that Obamacare will ultimately stay solvent: The nonexistence of patients who, not being alive, cannot make claims upon the system. From CNSNews.com During the subcommittee hearing, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) said that contraception provided by [...]
Archbishop Chaput Addressing the Growing Aggressive Eugenics in Fetal Medicine
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Bishops, Eugenics, Uncategorized, tagged Abortion, Archbishop Chaput, Disability, Eugenics, Fetal Medicine on January 27, 2012 |
Hot on the heels of our medical conference last Saturday, Therapeutic Advances in Poor Prenatal Diagnoses, comes this letter from Archbishop Chaput to the people of his archdiocese. Opposition to this new eugenics is swelling all over the nation. Here is a bishop who makes me proud of my Church. Earlier this week local media [...]
Enslaved… At Last
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Birth Control, tagged Birth Control, Cardinal Dolan, Conscience Protections, Obama on January 26, 2012 | 12 Comments »
Word comes this week that Cardinal-elect Timothy Dolan received a telephone call from President Obama stating that the Catholic Church would not receive an exemption from the requirement to purchase contraception for its employees. Cardinal Dolan is less than enthused: “It’s not about contraception. It’s about the right of conscience.” “The government doesn’t have the [...]
First Annual Conference on Poor Prenatal Diagnoses and Therapeutic Interventions
Posted in Abortion, Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, Eugenics, tagged Poor Prenatal Diagnoses on January 17, 2012 | 8 Comments »
Late last Spring I became increasingly convinced that a major area not tackled by the pro-life movement in any coordinated fashion is the new eugenics movement in fetal medicine. Specifically, increasing numbers of physicians are advising, demanding, and even coercing women to abort babies diagnosed with what have become known collectively as “Poor Prenatal Diagnoses.” [...]
Abortion, IVF, and School-Sponsored Incest
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, tagged Incest, Pep Rally, Rosemount High School, Wollersheim on December 18, 2011 | 24 Comments »
Please bear with me on this one. It comes with a warning. This is gut-wrenching and nauseating, but needs to be aired. After having worked for seven years with teen prostitutes at Covenant House in the 1980′s, I honestly thought that I had seen it all. It’s tough to live with the memories of all [...]
Newt Gingrich’s Mistaken Notion: Life Begins at Implantation
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Dignity, tagged Implantation, IVF, Newt Gingrich on December 2, 2011 | 14 Comments »
UPDATE 12/5/11: The Gingrich Campaign responded. I’m not entirely sold on the response. Check it out. News today that presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich believes that life begins at implantation does not come as a great surprise. Other pro-life denizens of Capitol Hill, such as Senators Connie Mack and Orin [...]
When Does a Human Begin?
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on November 18, 2011 | 8 Comments »
When one considers the ethics of manipulation, the question of whether we ought to, or whether we may manipulate an organism or entity depends on the answer to the first and most fundamental question: What is it? Ascertaining the identity and status of the object of our intended manipulation is essential. In the fields of [...]
Gardasil: What About the Boys?
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, Sexually Transmitted Disease, Uncategorized, tagged Boys, Gardasil on October 31, 2011 | 24 Comments »
This is a mess. It’s also one of the thorniest questions in vaccination medicine to have surfaced in a long time. From the outset, it must be clear that I am neither endorsing, nor dismissing the question of vaccinating boys. Get a cup of coffee, and let’s kick this one around for a bit. The [...]
The Stigma of the Abortionist
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on September 27, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Jill Stanek carries the following quote from the rabidly proabort website, RH Reality Check, on her blog. Below is the quote and my response left at Jill’s. Professional obstacles cited by physicians [who perform abortions] included workplaces with an anti-abortion climate; the surprisingly widespread “no-abortion policies” that quietly exist in many private practices, HMOs, and [...]
Reverend Pat Robertson: Trade in Your Alzheimer’s Wife for a New Model
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, tagged Alzheimer's, Rev. Pat Robertson on September 17, 2011 | 11 Comments »
In Arthur Miller’s 1949 play, Death of a Salesman, protagonist Willy Loman famously declares: “You can’t eat the orange and throw the peel away — a man is not a piece of fruit.” Perhaps Christian Broadcasting Network’s Rev. Pat Robertson should carefully consider those words in light of his recent advice that a man whose [...]
Is It Unethical to Treat Down Syndrome Medically?
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on September 5, 2011 | 4 Comments »
In a recent article at LifeNews, “Possible Treatment for Down Syndrome Raises Ethics Questions,” author Effie Caldarola raises the ethical issue of treating those with Down Syndrome with a new drug under development by Dr. Alberto Costa. The new drug promises to stimulate and normalize growth in the Hippocampus of the brain, leading to improved [...]
One Day, Two Saints
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on August 25, 2011 | 4 Comments »
I wrote earlier today of the passing into eternity of my friend and 9/11 hero, Kevin McQuade. I came home tonight to news of another newly minted saint. Baby Emily (name changed), a child born this month with catastrophic developmental anomalies entered into her rest this evening. This is a baby that many in the [...]
Wanted: Pro-Life Medical, Ethical, Legal A-Team
Posted in Biomedical Ethics, tagged Baby Joseph, Bioethics. Ethical and Religious Directives on August 19, 2011 | 7 Comments »
My latest article for LifeNews.com This week, one of the most searing and difficult bioethical cases I have ever encountered was brought to my attention. It involves a premature baby born with serious and substantial developmental anomalies that will in all likelihood cost this little one her life. Before going further with the story, what [...]
Dismantling a Civilization, One Yellow Light at a Time
Posted in Biomedical Ethics on August 16, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Watching medicine succumb to physician-assisted suicide in the western states, Obama’s death panels, insurance companies being forced to pay for contraception, conscience protections for medical professionals being squeezed, pregnancy reductions proceed all the way to killing a twin to produce a singleton, the obscene funding of embryonic stem cell research, gay marriage… Many ask how [...]
