Catholic Medical Ethics: Core Reading

By Patrick Guinan

Catholic Medical Ethics: Core Readings is an anthology of traditional Catholic teachings on a variety of medical ethical issues from abortion to euthanasia, but also including genetic research and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158500801X
• ISBN13: 9781585008018
• Release Date: December 1999
• Publisher: 1st Book Library
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Catholic Medical Ethics: Core Readings

CATHOLIC MEDICAL ETHICS: CORE READINGS1st Books LibraryPatrick Guinan, MD and Ted Jagielo, MD, EditorsCatholic Medical Ethics: Core Readings in an anthology of articles on medical ethics from a Catholic perspective. The book contains fifteen articles which are aimed at covering a gamut of philosophical and clinical issues in medical ethics. Much of the material is drawn from articles previously printed in The Linacre Quarterly. The introductory papers are aimed at an indoctrination in the theological and philosophical background of medical practice. Pope John Paul II's allocution to the International Congress of Catholic Physicians establishes the tone of basic human rights. Father Stanley Jaki's erudite and comprehensive consideration of the Purpose of Healing,is augmented by an original article on the Physician as Teacher and Prophet by Rev. Jerome Listecki, Moral Theologian.There are three organizational statements in the book: the statement on Sex Education from the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds, a pastoral statement on Condom Distribution by the New York Bishops and statement on the Ethics of Gene Therapy by the Catholic Union of Great Britain. The NFCPG statement has received wide distribution as the seminal article on education for wholesome chastity. The New York Bishops' statement presents a bold Catholic witness against the background of a hostile political situation in the Empire State. The British statement which was a submission to the committee on the Ethics of Gene Therapy is unfortunately quite superficial perhaps as the result of the constraints imposed by that Committee.The articles by Kieth Crutcher on Fetal Research and by Kristine Severyn on Abortifacient Contraception are comprehensive and didactic and of practical value to students. The papers by Msgr. Cormac Burke on Marriage and Contraception and by Father John Bamberger on the Mystery of Suffering are largely theological in background and exhortative in tone. They provide important messages to the medical student who arrives with the constricted view imposed by the scientific emphasis of pre-medical curricula.The article by Dr. Joanne Angelo on Psychiatric Sequelae of Abortion will be familiar to Catholic Medical Society members who are acquainted with her empathetic clinical approach. Dr. Angelo's article is also noteworthy for being the only article in this volume which was written by an M.D. The excessive reliance on clergy and Ph.D.s from the basic sciences could be the basis for a criticism of the content of the book. Some subjects such as euthanasia are treated at length, others such as sterilization are omitted entirely. Controversial subjects such as food and drink for the terminally ill are not treated in depth although Bishop Myers' Instruction for Health Care Administrators does allude to the subject from a pastoral viewpoint. Artificial reproduction in the light of Donum Vitae is anothe