Linacre Quarterly最新文献

Despite our being created in right relationship with the Sabbath and holy time, we often have a dysfunctional relationship with rest, time, and ceasing. Our dysfunctional relationship with time, our hurriedness, has created an illness: "hurry sickness." In medicine, our hurry sickness is often transformed into a supposed virtue we call efficiency. As a surgical resident, I am evaluated on and celebrated for my efficiency. If hurry and efficiency have created an illness, what is our remedy? Theologians propose the Sabbath as the cure to our hurry sickness. The Sabbath is the proper treatment but cannot be traditionally observed by most surgical trainees. Therefore, I explore elements of the Sabbath that can be practiced by surgical residents.

Editor's Note: Issues of conscience are of increasing importance in medicine, especially when it comes to the Catholic physician. Nearly fifteen years ago, this alarm was sounded regarding the connection between physician conscience and patient autonomy. First published Vol 76, No 4, November 1, 2009. The development of patient autonomy within healthcare has created new challenges in the physician-patient relationship. When a patient demands a service that violates the conscience of a physician, it creates conflict within that relationship. This has become particularly problematic when a patient demands abortion or artificial contraception and the physician is morally bound to refuse. This article argues that the integrity of the physician's conscience must be maintained in order to uphold the integrity of the patient's autonomy. If the physician is forced to violate his conscience, then the guarantee that a patient's desires and wishes will be respected will be lost because a great moral inequality will be created between the physician and the patient. To safeguard both the physician-patient relationship and the patient's autonomy, it is vital that the physician's conscience be protected.

Although the opioid epidemic and fentanyl crisis are nationwide problems of immense proportions, calming the storm raging across the isolating geo-economic framework of Appalachia demonstrates the need for courageous, culturally effective programs that have the power to address and overcome the grave situation of addiction in this region. In the Appalachian region, unjust social structures are embedded in the communities' socio-economic conditions. As this reality poses even greater barriers to addressing the opioid epidemic in these communities, the restoration of social relationships within a community becomes vital to the development of a broader approach to social functioning and human flourishing. Faith traditions and faith communities can play an important role in helping to establish and support such social cohesion through attention to the individual, social, and spiritual needs of the community. This essay explores the complex problem of the opioid epidemic compounded by the fentanyl crisis. It considers the importance of public health research within the regional geo-economic framework of Appalachia to (a) inform policies that improve health inequities and promote social cohesion, (b) develop social solutions with a spiritual dimension, and (c) reveal remedies capable of informing moral norms in support of building a more just society. Reflecting on the virtue of solidarity, this essay also highlights the witness of the Catholic Church's response to the suffering experienced within the communities and the societies within the Appalachian mountains. While there may be considerable interest in viewing this article as a research document, foundationally, this essay utilizes a literary narrative approach through a Catholic lens to inform ethical deliberations, reasoning, and practice while supporting ethical reflection and consideration of the responses raised. Further, the reader is strongly encouraged to reference the comprehensive footnote system provided for extension and verification of the data presented.

Editor's note: Organ transplantation and the associated ethical topics such as the criteria for brain death continue to be of critical interest to Catholics, both physician and lay. Thirty years ago, Fr. Joseph Howard took a look at the philosophical and moral aspects of organ transplantation, and his words are still relevant today. New, recent insights into the residual functioning of the brain in the face of extensive injuries pose an additional question for Catholic physicians: to what extent do we owe a duty to our patients to explain to them the nature of the uncertainties and debates surrounding both donation and transplantation, in order for them to make an informed decision for themselves or their loved ones? Linacre Quarterly. 1994 Nov;61(4):57-64.