The Dominican Healthcare Ministry has published a short pamphlet, called Life is Changed, Not Ended, intended to help Catholics consider their eternal end and make adequate preparations for their own death. This publication distills the experience and knowledge of the Dominican Friars who work full time in the hospitals, where Read more…
The Catholic Medical Association is the largest association of Catholic individuals in health care, to help members to grow in faith, maintain ethical integrity, and provide excellent health care in accordance with the teachings of the Church. (cathmed.org) The NYC Guild of the Catholic Medical Association will have its first meeting of the Read more…
Stories About Our Ministry During the COVID-19 Outbreak in New York City During the Spring of 2020 The New York Times: Their Calling Was to Lay Hands on the Sick. Then Came the Coronavirus. EWTN: Ministering to the dying in New York during Covid-19 The Federalist: New York Priest Gives Read more…
(This is a research paper. It is longer and more detailed than the “Reflections” on this page. Please enjoy.) Introduction In their article, “Artificial Nutrition and Hydration: The Evolution of Ethics, Evidence, and Policy,” Howard Brody, Laura D. Hermer, Larry D. Scott, L. Lee Grumbles, Julie E. Kutac, and Susan Read more…
Why is this happening to me? Why did this happen to my child? What have I done to deserve this? Is God punishing me? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers? I hear questions like these frequently. As a priest and a chaplain to suffering patients their families, I get the Read more…
According to J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, there are two kinds of hope. These two kinds of hope are expressed by two different words in an Elvish language Tolkien invented. The words are amdir and estel. Both words can be translated by the Read more…
Saint Dominic is the Holy Founder of the Order of Preachers (the “Dominican” Order) that serves the parish community of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena on New York City’s Upper East Side and offers particular service to the health care community in that area and beyond through Read more…
In one of their “Sunday Review” sections, The New York Times published an article titled “Why Doctors Need Stories.” It was written by Peter D. Kramer, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University, whose focus in the article is on the advantages of including stories about the treatment of particular patients in Read more…
We are once again considering the wrongfulness of direct abortion and, more generally, the deliberate killing of human beings in the early stages of their development. We will recall that the term “abortion” refers to the death of an unborn child in the womb of his or her mother and Read more…
A direct abortion is an abortion that is deliberately chosen and is always morally wrong. It is morally wrong because it is a kind of murder, an instance of deliberately killing an innocent human being. Since it is an instance of murder, direct abortion is in violation of the natural Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from Godwho made man and woman in His own image and likeness. The human being has the dignity of being a person, not just a something but a someone, by virtue of possessing a rational and spiritual soul. Human life, which begins the moment Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from God. In its very first chapter, the Bible tells us, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them” (Gen 1:27). Human beings are made in God’s image, which accounts for the surpassing dignity and value of human Read more…
In concluding these reflections on organ and tissue transplantation, I hope to be able to provide some guidance to the ethical deliberations of potential organ and tissue donors and recipients as well as policy makers and clinicians: Potential Donors All of us are potential donors. That is to say, we Read more…
When we think of organ and tissue transplantation, we first might think of the donation of fully developed human body parts like kidneys, hearts, lungs, or skin. There are, however, some forms of transplantation that only involve the donation of human cells and other forms that involve material that is, Read more…
In order to ethically transplant vital organs from a consenting donor, it is necessary that the donor’s death be confirmed. This is the principle underlying the “dead donor rule,” requiring that donors of vital organs be confirmed dead before transplant. Were this rule not followed, the result would be transplantations Read more…
Organ and tissue transplantation is a growing area of contemporary medical practice that raises a variety of ethical concerns. This article will consider transplantations from donors after bodily death, including the transplantation of vital organs such as heart, lung, and liver as well as transplantation of tissues such as skin, Read more…
Organ and tissue transplantation is a growing area of contemporary medical practice that raises a variety of ethical concerns. This article will consider the transplantation of organs or tissue from living human donors, examine some of the ethical questions these practices raise, and draw conclusions from the tradition of the Read more…
When illness or injury threaten to end our lives or the lives of our loved ones, we may well find ourselves confronted with difficult decisions. Should we try this treatment or not? Should we try to resuscitate Mom? Should we withdraw life-support? How, in the specific situations of our lives, Read more…
In our consideration of end-of-life health care, we seek to understand how we can determine which potentially life-sustaining measures are to be considered ordinary means of preserving life and which should be considered extraordinary means. From our previous posts, we know that the term “ordinary means” applies to safe, beneficial Read more…
When someone is experiencing life-threatening illness or injury, ethical questions about the preservation of life often arise. What kinds of treatments are worth trying? Is it okay to refuse possible life-saving measures? When is enough enough? When considering these kinds of questions, the Church invites us to distinguish between “ordinary” Read more…
I have set before you life and death . . . Choose life (Deuteronomy 30:19). With these words, Moses exhorts God’s people to follow God’s law and thereby receive His life-giving blessings. We might, however, take the liberty of reapplying these words in our consideration of health care ethics, where they Read more…
Human life is a precious gift from god. In its very first chapter, the Bible tells us, “God created mankind in his image; in the image of God he created them” (Genesis 1:27). Human beings are made in God’s image, which accounts for the surpassing dignity and value of human Read more…
Like all human beings, patients receiving medical care can be identified with Jesus Christ by virtue of the Incarnation, the mystery of God becoming man.. This mystery is expressed by the angel Gabriel’s words to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of Read more…
We often use the word “patient” when speaking of men and women who are receiving medical care without giving much thought to what that word means. That is not necessarily a problem. The word “patient” is a helpful signifier in the context of health care. Everyone knows who is being Read more…
Every year on the first of November, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of All Saints, the great commemoration of all the holy men and women whom God has raised up throughout the two thousand year history of the Church. On November 7th, we Dominicans and those who share our charism Read more…
In a recent Reflection (Feb 19, 2017), I characterized four common attitudes about death as those of “the secular, the scientist, the suicide, and the saint.” I now wish to suggest that the proposals of the suicide are, in large measure, wrongheaded responses to real problems caused by the prevailing secular Read more…
In the eyes of God, death is the negation of the life He created. God permits death as a consequence of sin, but only so He might destroy sin and death in and through Jesus Christ. What is death in our eyes? In what follows, I would like to examine Read more…
Having considered the topic of advanced directives in health care in general, and the kinds of directives that can be made, let us draw some practical conclusions about what is to be done and when. Are there directives you should be making now, in advance of serious illness or injury? Read more…
We have considered in a general way the topic of advanced directives in health care. Let us now consider some of the particular kinds of directives that can be made, namely, (1) health care proxies, (2) living wills, and (3) the POLST paradigm. Health Care Proxies A health care proxy Read more…
Making advanced directives about one’s health care is frequently encouraged in our society and, in many ways, that is a good thing. Advanced communication about the kinds of medical treatment a person wishes to receive can be helpful in guiding that person’s loved ones and caretakers to make good decisions Read more…
One of the saddest experiences I have as a hospital chaplain is ministering to patients who die alone. Thankfully, that is unusual. In the great majority of cases, the dying person is surrounded by family. Friends are often there too, but mostly family: the people who have been with that Read more…
People faced with dire circumstances often pray to God for miracles. The patients in the hospitals I serve, along with their families and loved ones, frequently offer such prayers. In the church of St. Catherine of Siena, where I live and minister, we have a shrine to St. Jude, who Read more…
“I am angry with God” I often hear this from patients in the hospitals. They are expressing disappointment, the feeling that God has let them down. It may be a woman who has prayed to God for healing and the illness has only gotten worse. It may be a man Read more…