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Health Care Ethics USA
The recent tragedies caused by terrorism have shocked us all. There has been an outrageous assault on our nation and social fabric. And our general well-being is under stress. At such moments our commitment to the healing ministry of Christ is more important than ever. Our Catholic ministry has a mission for the nation - to encourage healing, to offer solace, and to bring hope in the face of suffering. The many reported accounts of heroic generosity will be multiplied, quietly and steadfastly, by the dedicated personnel in Catholic health care. At this awful time in US history we humbly offer our prayers for peace and divine grace to prevail. And let us be grateful for God's abundant blessings as so many of us are able to continue our daily routine, healthy and safe with family, friends, and colleagues. Let me also introduce this issue of Health Care Ethics USA with good news at the Center. We relocated in late summer from the School of Nursing to a newly renovated facility on Saint Louis University's health sciences campus. Our new building has the name, Salus Center - how appropriate with Salus being the latin word for health. It will take some time to work out all the glitches that occur with every move, but we are settling well and our usual routine in the PhD program is back on track. This year we welcome several new students to our PhD program. Patrick O'Rourke from Ireland has returned to the program after a leave of absence to be ordained for Westminster diocese, London. James Schmelzer has joined the program with his wife and family moving from the east coast. And Robert Onder, a physician in St. Louis who recently completed his JD degree at our university's Law School, has joined us. Our fourth student, Alvenio Mozol, is from the Philippines, but he will join us in January due to his delayed student visa. We welcome these new students who bring a rich diversity to our interdisciplinary PhD program, with their graduate degrees representing the fields of philosophy, theology, health administration, medicine, and law. We opened this new academic year with a wonderful array of sponsorship affiliations with our partners in Catholic health care. We have three externally sponsored graduate assistantships (via Ascension Health, Catholic Health Partners, and the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System) and two ethics fellowships (at Ascension Health in St. Louis and at St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, TN). The combination of these sponsorships in Catholic health care and the support we receive from our own Graduate School enables us to offer full funding for all students who need financial support. It is a blessing to be a fully funded program in this manner. Also, we warmly welcome two faculty at the Center. First, Marian McBay, PhD, is with us for one year as a visiting professor. Her PhD degree is in interdisciplinary ethics and her specialty research area is ethics issues related to Institutional Review Boards (often referred to as "research ethics"). During the year, she will be teaching several courses, serving on Institutional Review Boards at our University Hospital and the local VA hospital, presenting research seminars, and pursuing her own research. Second, Maria Glasova is a visiting Fulbright Fellow from Bratislava. Her PhD degree is in psychology and her specialty research area is in ethics issues related to child psychology. She will be pursuing her research for several months at the Center, including work at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. As usual, this issue of Health Care Ethics USA has three essays addressing ethics foundations, organizational ethics, and medical ethics. The first essay by myself discusses the recent Executive Order from President Bush on embryonic stem cell research. The essay discusses the President's approval of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research from the perspective of ethics foundations - by discussing the relevance of the principle of material cooperation. The second essay, on an increasingly important issue in organizational ethics, is by Marian McBay, PhD, the Center's visiting professor. Marian considers emerging ethical issues that need to be addressed by institutional review boards. The third essay, on a widely discussed case in medical ethics, is by Ann Suziedelis, MA, a senior doctoral student in our PhD program who is working currently on her dissertation. The essay discusses the recent case of conjoined twins in the United Kingdom, considering alternative ethical solutions from the perspective of the Catholic tradition. I hope you enjoy the essays and I look forward to receiving suggestions for topics that we might address in future essays. Professor Gerard Magill, PhD Index | Next: Catholic Principles in Government Policy: President Bush on Embryonic Stem Cell Research |
From the Director... |
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