The Uniform Law Commission is currently considering recommending a revision of the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) that would allow physicians to declare those who are in a permanent coma legally dead. This would be a travesty of law and common sense because, by definition, a coma indicates that one has brain activity and is still a living person.
Read MoreThe National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) strives to draw on the light and life of Jesus Christ and the Catholic moral tradition to address ethical challenges facing the faithful. One of our most exciting major initiatives is our parish membership program. This is a concrete way for the NCBC to reach Catholics in the pews who need our expert assistance.
Read MoreEthics committees exist in hospitals and other institutions because expertise is needed in certain trying situations to help professionals and individuals find the right answers when difficult ethical questions arise. The problem of ethical dilemmas is growing tremendously in biomedicine and research as scientific discoveries continue to push ethical boundaries constantly.
Read MoreMany people struggle with the ethical discernment surrounding the decision to have a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR) put into place for themselves or a loved one. The DNR is a specific medical order. “It instructs health care providers not to do cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if a patient's breathing stops or if the patient's heart stops beating.” There are circumstances where faithful Catholic bioethicists agree that a DNR can be moral and others where it is not.
Read MoreAuthentic civilization is rooted in morality and objective values. In fact, the bioethics of societies tells us if they are civilized or not. Scientific knowledge and development can be at the service of humanity or of barbarism, depending on the ethics that guides their application.
Read MoreIt is astonishing how ancient evils can “modernize” and emerge again. Slavery was legally abolished in the 19th century in most of the world, but diverse new forms of slavery, falling under the general heading of human trafficking, are a growing contemporary plague.
Read MoreDetransitioning is being discussed more frequently in the news. This is the process whereby persons who previously went through a “sex change” do their best to reverse that procedure. From a Catholic perspective (and also the common view of nearly all cultures and religions until very recently), a person is either male or female, and this biological fact is good and should be accepted. LGBTQ+ activists and their theorists have come up with the idea that one is only “assigned” a sex by our biology and that a person can therefore experience gender dysphoria, a sense of “being in the wrong body.” Their solution to this mental anguish is to dress and interact as a member of the gender they identify with and frequently take hormones, drugs, and surgery to “transition” their bodies so that they transform themselves into their self-perceived gender.
Read MoreDirect abortion is never ethically acceptable from a Catholic perspective. The grave intrinsic evil can be made even worse, however, under some circumstances. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found ways to do so with its approval of and subsequent loosening of restrictions on mifepristone or so-called medication abortions. The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) recently joined an amicus curiae or “friend of the court” brief in support of a reversal of the FDA’s approval of mifepristone as a drug for causing abortions.
Read MoreAn unfortunate result of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been a crisis of credibility of many government, scientific, and health care institutions. There is neither time nor space to explore the issue here. I will focus instead on how the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is adding fuel to this crisis. The FDA recently changed its Drug Facts Label for Plan B One Step (PBOS), known to the public as Plan B “emergency contraception,” in ways that create suspicion that this process was not so much guided by objective scientific facts as it was by political pressure and other extraneous factors.
Read MoreThe New York Supreme Court declared the state COVID-19 vaccine mandate for medical staff “null and void,” striking it down. This is especially significant since this is not Florida but liberal New York. A big part of the reasoning behind the ruling was the now-acknowledged scientific fact that the various COVID vaccines do not stop transmission of the disease. This undercut the main basis for the mandate, that it was a major public health benefit.
Read MorePope Benedict XVI was a special friend of The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) going back to the years when he served as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF). He spoke at the NCBC workshop for bishops in 1984 and in 1991, and we published a book with his words of wisdom entitled “On Conscience” that is available for purchase. Pope Benedict XVI appointed our past NCBC president, Dr. John Haas, as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life and a consultor to the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers.
Read MoreMarriage has a definition founded on the natural order. It is not an institution that can be redefined at the whim of judges or legislators or to appease social activist groups.
Read MoreI am always thrilled when it is possible to report victories in the field of bioethics, particularly when it concerns the conscience rights of health care professionals. The World Medical Association (WMA) at the end of October issued their newly revised International Code of Medical Ethics.
Read MoreGovernments should exist to provide security and ensure justice for their citizens. These services necessitate high ethical standards because the lives and freedoms of the people are at stake. A basic assumption in democratic societies is that the police should serve and protect the people and the rule of law. We rightfully become upset when there are abuses of police power or similar injustices.
Read MoreOver the centuries many writers have compared our earthly lives to a pilgrimage with heaven as our destination. Clearly the great ethical command of the natural law to do good and avoid evil is a key component of this journey. Having experienced the blessings of going on many Catholic pilgrimages and working as a bioethicist, I think it worthwhile to reflect on ethics for pilgrims.
Read More“Medicine is a moral enterprise.” This quotation from the late professor Edmund Pellegrino, one of the pioneers of Catholic bioethics, encapsulates a key insight. All are called to lead a moral life and to achieve the holiness of the saints. This obviously means that ethics is important in all professions and walks of life. Yet, we rightly hold physicians and other health care workers to higher standards of professional ethics. It is profitable to reflect in a deeper way on this moral intuition.
Read MoreHow sad when beneficial measures are twisted by those with a manipulative political agenda. The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Reagan in 1986. Its purpose was to ensure that Americans had access to emergency medical services even if they lacked financial means or health insurance. This is very much in conformity with the Catholic view that basic health care is a human right, especially in emergency situations. Now the Biden administration is using EMTALA to force an abortion mandate onto physicians.
Read MoreIt is hard to know where to begin in a critical response to the over 300-page proposed revised regulations recently published by the Federal Department Health and Human Services (HHS) on Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities. The proposed federal rule would “force health care workers to perform gender transition procedures, require health insurance issuers to cover them, and entertain a mandate to perform elective abortions,” in the words of a statement by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Read MoreThere is a silent moral plague: the seldom preached about grave violation of sexual ethics represented by male sterilization through a vasectomy. In this procedure the two vas deferens tubes are severed or blocked so that sperm cannot exit the testicles, rendering the man sterile. Catholic moral teaching is quite clear that contraception is a mortal sin and sterilization is an even more serious sin since it involves the mutilation of healthy organs in both male vasectomies and female fallopian tube ligations. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2399 and 2297)
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