in this issue:
hot button issues: HR 810
birth control: DIVORCE AS SIDE EFFECT? / HAZARDS
birth control pill: PROSTATE DEFORMITIES
catholic teaching: FOOD AND WATER ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE
euthanasia: ALZHEIMERS / FOOD AS MEDICAL TREATMENT / PHYSICIANS WHO KILL
pharmacists: NO RIGHT TO CONSCIENCE?
schiavo: CONTRADICTION
vaccine: SPECIAL ALERT
wisdom: POPE BENEDICT XVI
zinger: GRADUATION
reflection for prayer: THOMAS A KEMPIS
hot button issues
HR 810: The U.S. House approved a bill that would expand human embryonic stem cell research. ALL’s Judie Brown said, “Whether the innocent human being is a few hours old or nine months old, an act that intentionally kills him is always intrinsically evil. That this action is being taken for a perceived ‘good’ is irrelevant; evil can never be justified. Human embryonic stem cell research is inherently evil.” President Bush has said he would veto the bill if it passes both houses of Congress.
(Reading: “House vote on stem cell research bill marks death of reason on Capitol Hill,” American Life League news release, 5/25/05)
birth control
DIVORCE AS SIDE EFFECT? Matt Abbott tells readers why birth control is not good for marriages.
(Reading: “Divorce and contraception link,” SperoNews, 5/23/05)
HAZARDS? Dan Holman investigates the risks and the falsehoods surrounding birth control “safety.”
(Reading: “Birth control hazards,” Covenant News, 5/23/05)
birth control pill
PROSTATE DEFORMITIES: A new study in mice suggests that the estrogen-like compounds found in the pill could deform the prostate gland in embryos.
(Reading: “Oral contraception linked to prostate deformities,” New Scientist, 5/3/05)
catholic teaching
FOOD AND WATER ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE: An excellent analysis from Barbara Kralis about Catholic teaching on the provision of nutrition and hydration to those who are severely disabled or ill is available online
(Reading: “Catholics supporting the denial of ‘nutrition and hydration’ are not in communion with the Church,” Renew America, 5/4/05)
euthanasia
ALZHEIMERS: The first case of a Dutch physician complying with the request of a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s to be assisted in taking his own life is reported in the British Medical Journal.
(Reading: “Dutch approve euthanasia for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease,” British Medical Journal, 5/7/05)
FOOD AS MEDICAL TREATMENT: In an analysis of the Terri Schiavo case, Lawrence Gostin opines that the precedent was set by the majority of Supreme Court justices in the 1990 Cruzan decision that “artificial feeding cannot readily be distinguished from other forms of medical treatment.” He further opines that if a law were to require continuation of tube feeding, such a decision would be viewed as a burden and a violation of that patient’s liberty interest.
(Reading: “Ethics, the Constitution, and the dying process,” Journal of the American Medical Association, 5/18/05, pp. 2403-2407)
PHYSICIANS WHO KILL: In 2000, Dr. H.F. Shipman was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients while practicing medicine in a small town in England. In reviewing the case recently, the suggestion is posed that doctors who receive trust should also be held accountable in a way that prevents them from abusing their ability to amass large quantities of drugs that they may use in the same way Shipman did. Most of Shipman’s victims were not terminally ill and did not have any immediately life-threatening conditions.
(Reading: “Physician as serial killer — the Shipman case,” New England Journal of Medicine, 5/5/05)
pharmacists
NO RIGHT TO CONSCIENCE? One report suggests that a “right to treatment trumps health provider’s ‘conscience,” and pro-abortion NARAL claims that “a woman and her doctor” should decide, and the third party — i.e., the pharmacist — should comply.
ACTION: If you disagree, join Pharmacists for Life’s effort to protect life and conscience.
(Reading: “Right to treatment trumps health provider’s ‘conscience,'” Chicago Sun-Times, 5/7/05; “Tell pharmacy chains to stop discriminating against women,” NARAL action alert, 2005)
schiavo
CONTRADICTION: Thomas Sowell, accurately writing that Terri Schiavo was murdered, also wrote, “If nothing else comes out of all this, there needs to be a societal discussion of some humane way to end life in those cases when it has to be ended — and this may not be one of those cases.”
COMMENT: Since when does society have a right to decide who should live and who should die? The only discussion worth having is how to protect the dignity of the human person.
(Reading: “Cruel and unusual,” Town Hall, 3/22/05)
vaccine
SPECIAL ALERT: Children of God for Life (http://www.cogforlife.org) notes that a recent outbreak of rubella in Ontario, Canada, has sparked fears of rubella spread among unvaccinated people in the United States. The story from CBC News stated the outbreak occurred at a Christian school where parents had refused the vaccine for religious reasons.
Based on this, the United States may have an opportunity to import untainted rubella vaccine from Japan with FDA approval. While the vaccine is not currently licensed in the United States, there is a possible exception available through the FDA which allows importation of a drug when there is no similar drug currently available in the states. Children of God for Life is presenting the argument that for those who are refusing to use the Merck MMR/rubella vaccine, there is no acceptable vaccine here in the United States, therefore, the exception should be allowed.
This is being taken one step at a time, beginning with states near the Canadian border. If the FDA agrees to allow the importation, or if supporters are able to work with Canadian officials, families from either country could cross the border to receive untainted rubella vaccine.
Please go to the Children of God for Life web site to fill out the request form. Physicians, please note: The organization needs a patient count from your practices as well and may need your help in administering the vaccines to patients outside your practice if you are willing to do so. Children of God for Life has also established an FAQ page for those who may have questions.
Dr. Yoshitake Tanaka from the Kitasato Institute will be in the United States June 19-26 for meetings with both American and Canadian pharmaceutical companies on permanent licensing and distribution of their untainted rubella vaccine. It would be of tremendous benefit to have a strong number of needy patients before that meeting takes place, so please let others know.
wisdom
POPE BENEDICT XVI: Error, the “erring” conscience, is only at first convenient. But then the silencing of conscience leads to the dehumanization of the world and to moral danger, if one does not work against it.
(Reading: “Conscience and Truth,” Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 1991)
zinger
GRADUATION? You can graduate with your class from the Catholic St. Jude Educational Institute in Montgomery, Ala., if you are a male member of the senior class who has gotten a classmate pregnant, but if you are the expectant mom, you may not graduate with the class.
(Reading: “Pregnant Alabama student, banned from graduation, walks anyway,” Associated Press, 5/19/05)
reflection for prayer
THOMAS A KEMPIS: Love … is devout and thankful to God; trusting and always hoping in Him, and that even when he has but little devotion or little savor in him, for without some sorrow or pain no man may live in love.
(Reading: Thomas a Kempis)