I have now officially joining the ranks of bloggers around the world who share their lives and thoughts for all to hear or should I say read.
The campus school year is coming to an end. This year, three of the groups that I work with have their last meeting of the year: Law, Medical, Vet school and Business. As finals approach, a huge wall descends on campus and the student go into study panic. I focus my attention on other things and really don’t try to meet with students.
Our Vet group is preparing to go on a Short Term missions trip to Ecuador on May 15 – 25. A Christian Vet professor is leading the trip. We have been working together to prepare the students. It seems as though there is a little of spiritual opposition. One student’s mother just suffered a stroke and her mother will come to live with her while recovering, another student has been have anxiety and trouble sleeping, an another lost a fellow student who was a great friend to suicide a month ago. These are just a few things.
Pray for the trip and our students that all would go well.
Our Med group ended this week. Every year the day of graduation for the 4th year students (and I get to call me Dr.), we have a Christian Oath ceremony. It is a time when students of faith express their desire to serve God as a Physician. We have done this ever since I have been here and then much before then. Students have found this very meaningful and it is always a pleasure for their families to attend.
This year something unusual has happened. Some background is needed. Throughout any given school year, speakers come to the Med school and talk about a variety of topics. Our group has sponsored several talks (pizza is always served – you got to feed them.) We have one local doc share about Physician Assisted Suicide which is an important topic. Just recently we have a Jewish Concentration Camp survivor come and speak to the students. We had a full house.
The following is a talk of Medical Ethics:
Hello--
Please take advantage of this important and unique opportunity to participate in "Ethics Rounds", conducted by Dr. Norman Fost, Director of the Biomedics Program. This conversation will address some of the important, complex issues recently in the news. This is an good opportunity to critically explore the ethics of ""conscience clauses".
________________________________________________________________________
When? Monday, May 2, 2005 12:00N - 1:00pm
** please note: this meeting is replacing the Dean's Brown BagWhere?
1325 HSLC
What about? Conscience Clauses
A pharmacist refuses to fill a contraceptive prescription, stating it offends his conscience. A group of medical students plans to take a Christian Physician's Oath following the graduation ceremony. It includes, "I publicly profess my intent to practice medicine for the glory of God.... With Gods blessing, I will respect the sanctity of human life. I will care for all my patients, rejecting those interventions which either intentionally destroy or actively end the lives of the unborn, the infirm, and the terminally ill."
Questions to contemplate and discuss:
1. Should there be limits to "conscience clauses?" What if a Jehovah's Witness physician refuses to give transfusions? What if an orthodox Jewish physician refuses to acknowledge brain death as death? What if a Taliban physician refuses to treat an unmarried woman for an STD?
2. Should physicians with these restrictions on their practice be required to provide warnings to their prospective patients? Would that make it acceptable? Should HMO's be required to identify which services which physicians will provide?
3. Are institutional obligations different; e.g., would individual conscience clauses be acceptable if the hospital, group practice, or pharmacy were required to provide all approved services?
4. How is this different from pediatricians who refuse to treat elderly patients, or gynecologists who refuse to treat men?Norman Fost MD MPHProfessor, Pediatrics and BioethicsDirector, Program in BioethicsVice Chair, Department of Medical History and Bioethics
________________________________________________________________________
Our Oath ceremony seems to have been one of the reasons for this ethics discussion. It will happen on Monday at 12:00pm so we will see how this goes.
Pray that God will be honored and truth would be spoken during this ethics discussion.
