A discussion of Christian ethics focuses on the physician's image as a parent, warrior against death, expert, and teacher, and the oath that guides his or her practice.

What the Church teaches and why on issues of euthanasia, invitro fertilization, genetic counseling, assisted suicide, living wills, persistent vegetative state, organ transplants, and more.

Modern professionals wield considerable power by virtue of their knowledge. However, they also feel beleaguered by the constraints they face and the public disapproval they often experience. These pressures combine to diminish the professional's sense of public responsibility and convert him or her in self-perception to a careerist.

Book reviewed in this article: The Physician's Covenant: Images of the Healer in Medical Ethics. By William F. May.

This paper was first presented as a plenary lecture to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in August, 1985. The author, who is the Cary M. Maguire University Professor of Ethics at Southern Methodist University, discusses the intellectual, moral, and organizational marks of the professional that led reformers at the beginning of the twentieth century to locate professional training in the university. That discussion is followed by consideration of the moral consequences of university education for professionals, and (...) how journalists and all other professionals are, at base, teachers. The third part of the paper reflects upon the peculiarities of journalism as aprofession, and concludes with considerations of the special mission of journalism. (shrink)

End-of-life care, particularly for patients with advanced dementia, tests the medical covenant, both the integrity and aptness of what physicians have to offer and the fidelity with which they offer it. This article considers five ways of justifying the unilateral withholding of future treatment: (1) an affirmation of professional autonomy; (2) a defense of professional integrity; (3) a parentalist exercise of power on behalf of the patient and/or family; (4) a protection of the interests of third parties (footing the bill); (...) or (5) a protection of the interests of second parties (the physician or other providers). The article concludes with a sixth response to care for the stricken patient and family that seeks to attend more fully to the clinical reality of bonded humans in the throes of disease and death. (shrink)

: Money motivates people, lubricates the movement of resources, mobilizes talent, and breaks down some barriers. But money also has a darker side; it can distract, corrupt, distort, and cruelly exclude. Money is a useful but unruly servant; sometimes, a hard master. The professional, at least in part, belongs to the world of money. We sometimes distinguish the amateur from the professional in that the amateur does it for love; the professional, for money. The professional has one foot in the (...) marketplace, but also, purportedly, professes something else--beyond the bottom line. The following discussion explores the morally complex ties and tensions between money and the medical professions. (shrink)

A word, first, about the religious sensibility that I have found helpful to describe the care professionals owe to dying patients, particularly patients with advanced dementia.That word is covenant. It is a biblical term; but, today, it covers such dubious devices as real estate covenants. A real estate covenant often operates below the moral level of a contract to wall some people out of a neighborhood. Classically understood, however, the word covenant helps probe the obligations of doctors to their patients (...) more deeply than the notion of a contract. Covenants of the sort I have in mind and contracts appear to be first cousins; they both include an agreement and an exchange between parties. But, in spirit, contracts and covenants differ markedly. Contracts are external; covenants are internal to the parties involved. We sign contracts in order to discharge them expediently. Contracts are limited and time-bound — whether a contract to fix plumbing or to charge such and such for a medical procedure. (shrink)

William F. May, a leading expert on medical ethics, here explores two of today's most crucial tests of the traditional covenant between physicians and patients--active euthanasia and health care reform.

The March 2002 symposium Human Dignity and Reproductive Technology brought together philosophers, theologians, scientists, lawyers, and scholars from across the United States. The essays of this book are the contributions of the symposium's participants.

This book contains the Rockwell Lectures delivered at Rice University in February, 1989. What should a business firm do when its activities are within the law, yet potentially harmful? Each of the lectures is built around a case, reflecting the ethical dilemma faced by business managers when doing more than the law requires, which may mean substantial loss of profit. With the issue of dial-a-porn, telephone companies were faced with conflicting interests of protecting children against harm, preserving free speech, and (...) profit. In a property sales case, a potential flooding problem could result in substantial financial loss to the purchaser and damage to condominiums. In a case where the complete bid of a competitor had been obtained and the law was murky, winning a contract was pitted against fairness and honesty. (shrink)

El autor se propone tratar el tema fundamental de la relación existente entre la bioética -que se ocupa particularmente de determinar el carácter moral de los actos humanos en relación a la generación, el desarrollo y el cuidado de la vida y de la salud de la persona humana- y la teología, es decir; el estudio disciplinado de Dios y de todos los otros seres en su relación con Dios. El acercamiento a la cuestión tiene su punto de partida en (...) el reconocimiento de lo crucial que es el tema del significado de la persona humana.A una posición monista de cuño teológico y católico, la bioética contemporánea muchas veces opone una concepción dualista, que tiene su punto crucial en la idea del cuerpo como instrumento, más que como bien intrínseco de la persona. El autor propone una crítica de esta visión. La segunda parte del artículo está dedicada a la moralidad de los actos humanos, tema que vuelve a desarrollarse a partir de la contraposición entre la visión de la teología católica y la de gran parte de la bioética contemporánea, que tiene una mala disposición hacia los absolutos morales y los actos intrínsecamente malos, y es la promotora de la teoría del consecuencialismo ético claramente individualista. Precisamente es ese riesgo de arbitrariedad lo que es objeto de crítica en una concepción semejante, incapaz de abrirse al significado real de la libertad humana. (shrink)

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