What Is This World Coming To?

Two patient's families today at the skilled nursing asked me to discontinue feedings on their loved ones. One patient's son was willing to re-consider and allowed me to restart basic sustenance, food and water through the gastric feeding tube. The other family really has no right to make the decision since the patient still has the capacity to decide.
Did I ever think I would see the day when a step daughter is arguing with me in front of her step-father trying to convince him that the quality of his life is so poor that he should agree to be starved to death? In front of her father she discussed how much the nursing home was going to cost them per day once he was no longer covered by insurance! I told the gentleman that he would be dead in two weeks if I discontinued his feedings. His step-daughter told him I would basically anesthetize him so he wouldn't feel anything. I explained that I would not participate in terminal sedation since this is not the standard of care nor is it legal.

The Catholic Church teaches us that the withdrawal of food and water from a patient who is not imminently terminal is grave sin and violates the dignity of the person and deprives them of their life. The Church teaches that life is sacred because we are created in the image of God and we are not to end another's life, irregardless of the quality of that person's life.

God have mercy on this generation that has found it so easy to end the life of the pre-born and now wishes to end the life of the frail elderly when they have become inconvenient or expensive.

USCCB Speaks Out On Embryonic Stem Cell Research

It is gratifying to see the Catholic Bishops coming together to make a statement regarding ESCR.

"The issue of stem cell research does not force us to choose between science and ethics,
much less between science and religion. It presents a choice as to how our society will pursue
scientific and medical progress. Will we ignore ethical norms and use some of the most
vulnerable human beings as objects, undermining the respect for human life that is at the
foundation of the healing arts? Such a course, even if it led to rapid technical progress, would be
a regress in our efforts to build a society that is fully human. Instead we must pursue progress in
ethically responsible ways that respect the dignity of each human being. Only this will produce
cures and treatments that everyone can live with."

See the full article here.

Obama: The Abortion President

If elected president, Obama has promised to bring an end to the divisiveness that the abortion debate brings to America. How is he going to do that? By making abortion a right that cannot be restricted by individual states, even if their legislature votes against it. See this article.

"I have worked on these issues for decades now. I put Roe at the center of my lesson plan on reproductive freedom when I taught Constitutional Law. Not simply as a case about privacy but as part of the broader struggle for women’s equality. Steve and Pam will tell you that we fought together in the Illinois State Senate against restrictive choice legislation—laws just like the federal abortion laws, the federal abortion bans that are cropping up. I’ve stood up for the freedom of choice in the United States Senate and I stand by my votes against the confirmation of Judge Roberts and Samuel Alito "

Jesus Down The Street

We just found out that the Church that is only a 5 minute walk from our new house has Eucharistic Adoration from 9AM to 6PM daily Monday to Friday. We can literally have a little talk with Jesus and bask in His presence every day! Many parishes don't have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament so this is a great blessing. I hope and pray we take advantage of this opportunity as often as possible.

Oral Contraception and Dementia : Oooops I Forgot to Take My Pill Today

It has been shown that the use of oral contraception increases the risk for breast cancer, premature heart disease, pulmonary embolism, and cervical cancer. Now, a new study quantifies the increased risk of plaque formation in arteries in users of OC.

BELGIUM, April 8, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers at the University of Ghent, conducting a long-term study on 1,300 healthy women aged 35 to 55 living in a small town in Belgium, have observed that those women who take oral contraceptives may have more plaque (a hard, fatty deposit) buildup in their arteries.

Atherosclerotic plaque is comprised of cholesterol, bacteria and calcium which adheres to the inner lining of arteries.

Approximately 81 percent of participants had taken birth control pills for at least a year at some point in their lives, and 27 percent were currently taking the contraceptives.

The researchers conducted ultrasound examinations of the participants' leg and neck arteries to measure levels of plaque buildup. Every 10 years of oral contraceptive use was correlated with a 20 to 30 percent increase in plaque buildup.

According to lead researcher Ernst Rietzschel, this amount of plaque buildup is cause for concern because of increased risk of heart disease and stroke, and the study indicates a need to conduct new investigation into the safety of oral contraceptives.

"It's incredible that a drug which has been taken by 80 percent of women ... is almost bereft of any long-term outcome safety data," Rietzschel said in a NaturalNews report.

Cerebrovascular disease (blocked arteries in the neck and brain) is also a significant cause of dementia in the aging population.(see this study) We have also know that combination therapy with estrogen/progesterone for post-menopausal women increased the risk for dementia since 2003. Why would we assume that this same combination estrogen/progesterone therapy ("The Pill") doesn't eventually increase the risk for the younger women who may take these drugs for up to 25 years in some cases? Based on studies such as this, I predict an epidemic of dementia in women in the next decades to come, some of which we may already be seeing. With this information available, why is no one else is "connecting the dots" here?

Bioethics and Catholics

I attended a bioethics conference today hosted by a local group of evangelical Christian physicians who are keenly aware of the need for a pro-life stand in their practices and medicine in general. The guest speaker was a Christian physician and ethicist who provided a history of the eugenics movement in the US and then presented the latest information regarding pre-implantation genetic determinations. At one point she presented a quote from Evangelium Vitae (JP 2's Encyclical Letter on the Value and Inviolability of Human Life). It said life begins at conception. She put up a quote that some scientists draw a different line and "different lines exist regarding where life begins."

During the Q + A time, a physician bemoaned the fact that the "Christian medical establishment" doesn't do more to attempt to effect legislation regarding attempts at genetic manipulation, embryonic experimentation etc. The speaker politely agreed that there needed to be more organization and ability to affect change in this arena.
For me, the "elephant in the room" was the Catholic Church! For centuries the Church has established the "lines in the sand" regarding issues of life and in the past forty years produced some of the most important and weighty documents regarding bioethics particularly from JP2 with specific guidelines for pre-born life, in-vitro fertiliation and other infertility treatment, embryonic stem cell research, genetic manipulation, end of life issues etc. The Church has been at the forefront of the lobbying for pro-life legislation in the US as well as leading the March for Life and abortion mill protests throughout the country. There is a large body of Christian bioethics in the teachings of the Catholic Church that remains an unopened treasure of truth.

"all human life—from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages—is created in the image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or dignity of a human person. Human life is not just an idea or an abstraction; human life is the concrete reality of a being that lives, that acts, that grows and develops; human life is the concrete reality of a being that is capable of love and of service to humanity." John Paul II

National Catholic Bioethics
Canadian Catholic Biothics Institute
Linacre Institute
Culture of Life Foundation
Catholic Medical Association
The Vatican Charter for Healthcare Workers

I encourage my colleagues to brave the waters and dip into this river of truth .