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This is a companion blog to Philokalia Republic. Politics, religion, phiolosophy, and books are topical here.

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Exempla/Sisters of Charity merger is fine by me

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Contributed by: Kevin Jones on 12/6/2007

(This is written in response to YourHub.com's Seth Davis' request for opinions on the debated hospital merger)

At a time when many Catholic institutions and individuals follow Christian ethics only when it is convenient, I applaud the Sisters of Charity for adhering to a consistent ethic as they consider expanding to take responsibility for Exempla hospitals.

It is understandable that this code of ethics will confuse or even anger those who don't share all of the same commitments.

Regrettably, news coverage rarely lessens such confusion by explaining the logic behind controversial ethical stances.

I am sure many do not understand certain Catholic moral concerns, such as why vasectomies or tubal ligations should be considered unethical. Though there isn't space for a full discussion, I'll venture my layman's understanding of that reasoning:

Suppose there became popular an elective surgery that severed the optical nerve for those who no longer wanted to see. We can see the principle by which medical professionals would refuse that "treatment." Eyesight is healthy, and not a medical problem. Deliberately to blind someone, even at their request, is a kind of mutilation directly contrary to the art of medicine.

In a similar way, deliberately to mar healthy reproductive organs is not consistent with medical practice. Sterility, not fertility, is the ailment to be treated. Medicine aims to heal rather than thwart the natural functions of the human body, which Catholics and many others believe to be a work of God.

Centuries of considered ethical thought has helped lead to these controverted conclusions, and I hope the skeptical will examine that reasoning in more detail, as explained by intelligent scholars at places like the National Catholic Bioethics Center.

Even so, some might object that a medical institution coming under Catholic auspices has no business imposing its revised medical ethics on its staff or patients, when those ethical principles aren't widely-shared and seem to intrude upon individual prerogatives. But if, to suggest an extreme example, the euthanizing of disabled newborns(with parental consent) ever became an accepted, HMO-covered medical procedure, I hope the principled minority would support Catholic organizations that defy that norm and refuse accommodation.
Majority rule can't be the deciding factor in medical ethics.

The Sisters of Charity are responsible not only to God(a most important patron), but also to their thousands of benefactors across the years who have expected the Sisters to carry on their mission in a manner consistent with Catholic principles and sound medical ethics.

Indeed, the principles the Sisters of Charity hold are in part responsible for their present prominence.

If the merger goes through, millions of dollars from their endowment will supply medical facilities that otherwise would not be available. As a Kaiser Permanente member, that's fine by me.

Catholic ethics requires not only these presently controversial moral stands; it also mandates care for the sick and dying. To obey that mandate, we can all agree.

(Cross-posted at Philokalia Republic)

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Kevin Jones

Arvada , CO

Kevin Jones has posted 4 blog entries and 1 comment since joining on 10/12/2005. Kevin Jones 's average blog rating is 4.7.

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