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101. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Rev. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco Science
102. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Helen Watt Bodily Invasions: When Side Effects Are Morally Conclusive
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What kind of interventions on the body of an innocent human being may be licitly intended? This question arises in relation to maternal–fetal conflicts such as ectopic pregnancy and obstructed labor, and to other cases such as organ harvesting and separation of conjoined twins. Many assume that harm must be intended for absolute moral prohibitions to apply; however, it is not always the case that foreseen harm is merely a factor to weigh against benefits we intend. On the contrary, foreseen harm (and absence of benefit) for someone we affect can be morally conclusive when linked to an immedi­ate intention to affect the person’s body or invade the space it fills. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.1 (Spring 2011): 49–51.
103. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Edward J. Furton Ethics Without Metaphysics: A Review of the Lysaught Analysis
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The recent moral analysis of Therese Lysaught concerning the death of a child by dilation and curettage is emblematic of a wider trend in Catholic moral theory that has forgotten Western metaphysics. Lysaught’s analysis depends on seeing the world as a mechanical system, lacking in all teleological order and thus incapable of providing the mind with moral guidance. The rejection of the traditional philosophical conviction that nature is under the governance of God, and its replacement with the view that nature is a merely physical order, explains why the new theorists do not see that direct killing of the innocent is wrong. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.1 (Spring 2011): 53–62.
104. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Rita L. Marker End-of-Life Decisions and Double Effect: How Can This Be Wrong When It Feels So Right?
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The doctrine of double effect has a firm, respected position within Roman Catholic medical ethics. In addition, public debate often incorporates this doctrine when determining the acceptability of certain actions. This essay examines and assesses the application of this doctrine to end-of-life decisions. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.1 (Spring 2011): 99–119.
105. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Lisa Gasbarre Black Double Effect and U.S. Supreme Court Reasoning
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Legal minds have utilized the principle of double effect as proposed by St. Thomas Aquinas for centuries to shape legal authority in cases where moral judgment and legal reasoning meet. The U.S. Supreme Court had uti­lized double-effect reasoning in the realm of self-defense cases. This article discusses more recent use of double-effect reasoning in the landmark Supreme Court case Vacco v. Quill and its companion case, Washington v. Glucksberg. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the Court in Vacco, introduced double-effect reasoning to identify the distinctions between palliative care and assisted suicide in an effort to uphold the constitutionality of the ban on assisted suicide in New York. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.1 (Spring 2011): 41–48.
106. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Richard M. Doerflinger Washington Insider
107. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Greg F. Burke, MD Medicine
108. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 1
Marie A. Anderson, MD, Robert L. Fastiggi, David E. Hargroder, MD, Rev. Joseph C. Howard Jr., C. Ward Kischer Ectopic Pregnancy and Catholic Morality: A Response to Recent Arguments in Favor of Salpingostomy and Methotrexate
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Respected Catholic ethicists have recently defended the use of salpingostomy and methotrexate in the management of ectopic pregnancies.This article examines the arguments for the revised assessments to determine whether there are sound reasons to believe that these two methods do not constitute the direct and immediate killing of innocent human beings. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.1 (Spring 2011): 65–82.
109. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
John M. Travaline, MD Medicine
110. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Christopher Kaczor Philosophy and Theology
111. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Frederick Guyette Embodiment: Capability, Vulnerability, and Faith
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The mystery of embodiment is ubiquitous in medical settings. Even so, health care professionals may find themselves driven by daily clinical tasks that prevent this mystery from coming to focal awareness. The author explores embodiment from five approaches, (1) offering a simple account of developing a skill that proceeds in several stages from novice to expert, (2) examining critically the “capabilities approach” of Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and what it says and does not say about embodiment, (3) developing a brief description of the human body as vulnerable, (4) exploring the long-term trend in clinical contexts sometimes described as the “commodification of the body,” and (5) highlighting connections between Christian faith and embodiment. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 239–248.
112. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
John M. Haas Catholic Teaching regarding the Legitimacy of Neurological Criteria for the Determination of Death
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In The Gospel of Life, Pope John Paul II encouraged organ donation as a genuine act of charity. Some Catholics reject the notion of vital organ transplantation and the use of neurological criteria to determine a donor’s death before organs are extracted. This article reviews Church teaching on the use of neurological criteria for determining death—including statements by three popes, a number of pontifical academies and councils, and the U.S. bishops—to show that Catholics may in good conscience offer the gift of life through the donation of their organs after death as determined by those criteria, and may in good conscience receive such organs. This article is not a defense of the legitimacy of neurological criteria for determining death but rather a presentation of the moral guidance currently offered by the Church on the legitimacy of organ donation after death has been determined by their use. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 279–299.
113. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Rev. Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco Science
114. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Rev. Charles N. Rowe Love, Homosexual Marriage, and the Common Good
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This essay argues that marriage is to be defined as an exclusive, indissoluble union of one man and one woman with openness to children. The nature of marriage is approached through an exploration of the nature of love, understood as willing the good of the other. From this study, marriage’s essential characteristics of exclusivity, indissolubility, heterosexuality, and fruitfulness emerge. A brief consideration of the role of the state and its interest in marriage shows that the legal definition of marriage should not deviate from this reality. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2012): 267–275.
115. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Joseph M. Arias, Rev. Basil Cole, OP The Vademecum and Cooperation in Condomistic Intercourse
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Some difficulties arise when considering the 1930 encyclical letter of Pope Pius XI, Casti connubii, and the 1997 Vademecum for Confessors in light of the consistent teaching of the magisterium on the intrinsic evil of every contraceptive act. One difficulty is how to reconcile certain teachings of these two documents, which clearly allow for some sort of cooperation with a spouse who voluntarily renders the marital act infecund, with the absolute prohibition against formally acting in a contraceptive manner. The author provides a care­ful reading of the documents that takes into account related magisterial and curial decisions, and shows that the documents reveal a consistent teaching. The teaching permits a certain limited cooperation with a spouse who renders the marital act infecund in a so-called natural way (e.g., natural onanism, or withdrawal) but excludes active material cooperation in sexual acts with a spouse who employs a condom or its equivalent. This teaching has relevance to recent debates about the prophylactic use of condoms among spouses. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 301–328.
116. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Stefan Pokall, MD Ethical Challenges in Preventive Fetal Therapy
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This article reports the case of prenatally diagnosed twins who were conjoined at the umbilical cord and treated before birth. Fetoscopic cord abla­tion of the twin with a severe anomaly was chosen by the parents to reduce the risk of death for the co-twin, although the procedure meant the certain death of the disabled twin. The author discusses different ethical perspectives on the case and on preventive fetal therapy in general. He concludes that care should be taken to help parents find and articulate their ethical position in complicated clinical settings in which life-or-death decisions must be made. Catholic physicians in particular have a duty to participate in such cases and to develop alternatives to a utilitarian medicine. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 329–344.
117. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Ryan C. Mayer Is Embryo Adoption a Form of Surrogacy?
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The author applies the definitions of surrogacy offered by Donum vitae to the question of embryo adoption and shows that embryo adoption does not in fact constitute an act of surrogacy. The author shows that neither Donum vitae nor Dignitas personae condemns heterologous embryo transfer or embryo adoption per se but only when these acts also involve illicit forms of artificial fertilization or surrogacy. The author suggests that the apparent reason for a lack of endorsement of embryo adoption by Donum vitae and Dignitas personae is pastoral caution, concern for scandal, and the connection between embryo adoption and IVF; it is not because embryo adoption is intrinsically illicit. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 249–256.
118. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
William L. Saunders Jr. Washington Insider
119. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 2
Stephen Napier Catholic Hospitals, Institutional Review Boards and Cooperation
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This paper addresses a certain lacuna in moral theological reflec­tion. An institutional review board (IRB) reviews research on human subjects and so represents the institution’s ethical review mechanism for research. The author argues that if an IRB approves a research project that is immoral, it thereby implicates the institution in formal cooperation. The author also argues that numerous ethical concerns are created by current research enterprises—concerns that extend beyond the “usual suspects” of embryonic stem cell research and research using cell lines of illicit origin. The author describes these more subtle issues and shows how IRBs at Catholic hospitals can navigate them. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.2 (Summer 2011): 257–266.
120. The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly: Volume > 11 > Issue: 3
Rev. Martin Rhonheimer Vital Conflicts, Direct Killing, and Justice: A Response to Rev. Benedict Guevin and Other Critics
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Responding to criticism of my Vital Conflicts in Medical Ethics, this article corrects misrepresentations and answers objections. The core of the debate is the moral category of “direct killing” as opposed to “indirect.” The article argues that critics beg the question by simply presupposing, instead of argumentatively defending, the very physicalist understanding of “directness” which the book has shown to be untenable. This article clarifies the intentional meaning of “direct” and what it means to choose something as a means; it also argues that this does not imply a subjectivist conception of morality, and refutes objections to the view that the moral evil of killing is constituted by its opposition to justice. It finally shows why this is essentially an argument against proportionalism and in defense of the core teaching of Veritatis splendor. National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly 11.3 (Autumn 2011): 519–540.