Biblical Reflections on Modern Medicine
Vol. 6, No. 4 (34)
Contents:
An Unjust Requiem for the Hippocratic Oath?
or . . .
Gregory W. Rutecki, M.D.
(Ed's note: The following is a letter sent to me challenging the
attack by Dr. Hilton Terrell and myself on the efforts by some
Christians to resurrect the Hippocratic Oath as a moral standard for
physicians in modern times. I have chosen to publish it as an
article and to respond to it as the major portion of this
newsletter.)
Permit me to paraphrase the inspired Word (Mark 9:24): "I do
agree but allow me to respectfully articulate the areas in which I
disagree." I am writing in response to the May 1995 issue of
Reflections on . . . engaging the criticism of the Hippocratic
Oath contra an integrated Biblical worldview. I know both
of you well enough by now -- I trust that you know my heart just as
well -- to dialogue responsibly as brothers in Christ.
Let me begin in an arena where we have essential agreement. To
quote your words (actually those of Jay Adams), "We have no Biblical
warrant to produce oaths that are not squarely based on Scripture"
is certainly truth. Absolutely no question should remain -- in fact,
a definite litmus test -- Scripture is the sole normative authority
for the Christian. Furthermore, it is correct that "we disarm
ourselves when we are asked to drop our 'sword of the Spirit which
is the Word of God.'" (Ephesians 6:17) When we are armed
appropriately, the result is a Biblical theory which ensures our
inhabitation as believers within a holistic, consistent Biblical
worldview. Within the pro-life movement per se, your observations
are indeed trenchant in that anything short of this theology is
compromising God's truth.
Christians disarmed of God's Word have unfortunately become the
rule rather than the exception. David Wells in No Place For
Truth Or Whatever Happened To Evangelical Theology states
presciently, "We now have less Biblical fidelity, less interest in
truth, less seriousness, less depth and less capacity to speak the
word of God to our own generation in a way that offers an
alternative to what it already believes." In substituting man-made
oaths for the Word of God, the pro-life community has accommodated
itself to the relativism of post-modern culture in a most
unconscionable manner.
Your publication also provided a further example of the
Hippocratic Oath's inadequate statement of truth as reflected in its
incomplete development of the concept of confidentiality. I have
carefully studied God's word previously in an attempt to define
Scriptural boundaries to the confidentiality debate relying on God's
wisdom as opposed to man's foolishness (Journal of Biblical
Ethics in Medicine, Fall 1991, pp. 73-78).
Since it should be abundantly clear that normative authority for
the Christian is not to be found in the Hippocratic Oath, does the
oath itself have any value -- or better yet an appropriate context
in contemporary Christian dialogue? Or should the oath, as well as
its 20th century update, as Hilton disparagingly suggests, be
relegated to the category of error, trivia, or banality? I come to a
different conclusion than you.
To say that the Hippocratic Oath had no impact outside the pagan
west is patently untrue. A number of medical oaths, ancient as well
as modern, contain substantive restatements as well as adumbrations
of essential aspects of the Hippocratic Oath (W. T. Reich, Ed.,
Encyclopedia of Bioethics, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995).
Some examples include: the oath of Caraka Samkita (Hindu, 1st
century B.C.); the oath of Asaph (Hebrew, Syria or Mesopotamia
pre-7th century A.D.?); advice to Holy Abbas (Persian, 10th century
A.D.); rules of Enjuin (Japanese, 16th century A.D.); and the
Chinese five commandments and ten requirements of medicine (1617).
The modern Russian medical oath (1992) deliberately returned to a
Hippocratic tradition as American physicians were simultaneously
abandoning that tradition. In fact, I find an important apologetic
parallel between the Hippocratic Oath and C.S. Lewis' illustrations
of the Tao in The Abolition of Man. Lewis' illumination of
the Law of general beneficence, present in a number of otherwise
disparate cultures, resembles the oath's message -- a natural
revelation of God's law for medicine.
When you incorrectly suggest that the Hippocratic Oath was
limited to pagan Greeks or select Westerners, you have unwittingly
restated the specious appraisal of the oath by the United States
Supreme Court in the notorious Roe v. Wade decision. The
justices thereby invalidated the binding authority of the
Hippocratic Oath previously resulting in a proscription of abortion.
The justices' rationale was that the influence of the oath was
ostensibly limited to Pythagorean philosophers and was invalid for a
generation of American physicians.
What is it about the Hippocratic Oath which explains its
consistency, tenacity as well as its ability to cross over ethnic
and religious lines in medicine? Margaret Mead, the anthropologist,
summarized it thus, "with the Greeks the distinction was made clear.
One profession ... were to be dedicated completely to life under all
circumstances, regardless of rank, age or interest -- the life of a
slave, the life of the emperor, the life of a foreign man, the life
of a defective child ... but society is always attempting to make
the physician into a killer -- to kill the defective child at birth,
to leave sleeping pills beside the bed of the cancer patient."
The Hippocratic Oath was the first medical oath to separate the
black and white sides of medicine and as a result, physicians were
dedicated to life through an oath containing an explicit prohibition
against abortion and euthanasia. Furthermore, unlike tepid
contemporary oaths such as the Geneva Convention Oath, the
Hippocratic Oath is grounded in both vertical (the physician's
relationship and responsibility to God) and horizontal dimensions
(physician's relationship to teachers and patients).
Ed surmises quite appropriately, "It seems that Christians who
are pro-life are obsessed with the resurrection of the Hippocratic
Oath as if it had some magical powers to right all the wrongs of
modern medicine ... in my mind, it is a false hope that somehow a
pagan consciousness will be awakened by a modern version of that
oath!" Yet, the medical ethos has mirrored the oath so accurately
that when the Hippocratic Oath is absent from culture, medicine
strays to the black side. This was evident in German medical
practice before and during World War II and in more contemporary
circumstances in the Netherlands. The Oath does not have the power
to regenerate depraved consciousness: only Jesus Christ does!
Nonetheless, I think that the Oath still has an appropriate
context in Christian dialogue, and this may be summarized in Nigel
Cameron's words. "The purpose (of the Hippocratic Oath) is to offer
a sufficiently careful ethical definition of medicine to ensure its
distinctive continuance in a context of pluralism, in which
there is a fundamental disagreement about right and wrong in
medicine as in every other aspect of social life."
In Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary
Thought and Culture, Gene Veith explains the difficult task of
the Christian messenger in contemporary society. "The difficulty (in
presenting the Gospel) was in finding a common frame of reference
... experience is a sobering illustration of how resistant the
modern mind has become to the Christian message." We presently live
in a post-modern culture characterized by a relativity in which
there are a number of fundamental disagreements about right and
wrong in medicine. The majority of this culture also actively denies
the ultimate Truth provided by the metanarrative in Scripture.
So where may we begin with unbelievers? To quote Carlos F. Gomez
who studied euthanasia in The Netherlands, "Some opponents of
physician-assisted suicide note that the prohibition against killing
is embedded within the Hippocratic Oath and is part of the ethos
intrinsic to the proper practice of medicine. Thus, a change that
would allow physicians to kill their patients -- even within the
most tightly controlled circumstances -- would not be a mere
addition to the physicians' techniques and drugs, rather it would
fundamentally alter that established 'frame of reference.'"
Establishing a frame of reference for secular physicians through the
long-lived tradition of the Hippocratic Oath -- doctors may never
kill -- may serve as an initial apologetic tool, never as a
substitute for Scripture and kerygma (proclamation of the
Gospel).
Though I agree unequivocally that the explicit statement of
Christian truth must emanate solely from Scripture, to remove the
historical and traditional impact of the Hippocratic Oath from a
pluralistic society that has banned Scripture from the marketplace
is literally throwing the baby away with the bath water. All truth
is God's truth, and if the Oath is relegated to its appropriate
context (i.e., as being the traditional Oath which proscribes any
killing by physicians from any of a myriad of background cultures),
it is still useful for our engagement of an unbelieving, Biblically
illiterate post-modern culture. I sincerely believe that preserving
the oath in this context in no way minimizes our belief in
Scriptural integrity.
Admittedly, Dr. Rutecki has raised a good argument in favor of
the promotion of the Hippocratic Oath as moral standard for
medicine. However, while I am not closed on this debate, his
argument has weaknesses and there are other strong arguments for my
contentions against its promotion by Bible-believing Christians.
First, occurrence in history and influence in history are two
different issues. I seem to recall in my liberal Old Testament
class in college that other cultures were found to have laws that
were similar to those of the first five books of the Old Testament.
From that identification, it was concluded that Moses' writings were
not all that unique, certainly not inspired by God.
However, any Bible-believer knows that regardless of common
agreement with other cultures/nations, the Old Testament laws were
uniquely the Word of God. Thus, similar content of one culture's
oath with that of Hippocrates does not automatically establish a
direct link to it. As Rutecki states, there is a great deal of
common moral principle found from culture to culture without any
necessary direct link to moral standards in other cultures.
The Hippocratic Oath in American and
Western History
Second, even where such linkage can be traced, there is
certainly not an automatic binding of the consciences and actions of
any culture. I contend that the influence of the Hippocratic Oath in
past times has been mostly read backwards into history by modern
writers. My argument is based upon history in the United States
and Christianity in the West.
A common citation for pro-life authors is that of the
Transactions of the American Medical Association of 1859. In those
recordings, a strong defense of the unborn and against abortion is
found. However, no mention is made of the Hippocratic Oath as
having any influence on their position.
Further, little, if any, evidence exists in American history
for the Hippocratic Oath as having any influence against abortion.
Marvin Olasky's book, Abortion Rites, is a carefully documented
history of abortion practices within the changing culture of the
United States from Colonial days to the present. In his index,
Olasky has no reference for the "Hippocratic Oath."
Now, some indexes are not comprehensive, so I called Dr. Olasky.
He could recall no appeals to the Hippocratic Oath by either the
medical profession, ethicists, or others as a standard to be held
against the all-too-common abortion practices of those days.
Now, American history is that of only one nation. However, the
United States is a direct descendant of the Western world which is
supposed to have been so influenced by the Hippocratic Oath. The
paucity of appeal to the Oath as a standard in raging abortion
debates for 200 years is a large hole in the modern assumption of
its power to influence the consciences of men and women.
Another large hole is made by the conclusions of two modern
ethicists. Dr. Robert M. Veatch and Carol G. Mason sought evidence
for the contention that the dominance of Christianity in the West
gave life and impact to the Oath. However, the historical records
show otherwise.
"First, up until the ninth or tenth century there is no
significant evidence of any affinity between the Hippocratic and
Christian ethical traditions and virtually no evidence that
Christian scholars paid any significant attention to
Hippocrates.
"Second, even by the ninth or tenth century, when evidence
for a convergence of the two traditions begins to appear,
Christian writings were explicit in rejecting a number of the
important elements of the Oath... " -- more on this rejection
later ("Hippocratic vs. Judeo-Christian Medical Ethics:
Principles in Conflict," The Journal of Religious Ethics, pp.
86-105).
It seems that any influence that the Oath has on Christians was
indirectly through a Christian revision of it (Ibid.).
Thus, the Hippocratic Oath survived by an interest in "medical
scholarship and classical Greek antiquity rather than ... any real
convergence with Christian thought" (Robert M. Veatch, A Theory
of Medical Ethics, New York: Basic Books, 1981, p. 24.)
Thus, survival of the Hippocratic Oath in the West and
sporadically in other cultures does not equate with ethical
impact. Advocates of the Oath assume the reverse. That is,
impact is assumed because of survival which is supported by the
following.
The Oath Fails to Inform or Bind
Conscience
Third, the Hippocratic Oath has no more power of moral
persuasion today than a castle in the air. I offer three
evidences. A) I said the Oath at my medical graduation and I might
better have been whistling "Dixie" (a Southern colloquialism for
wasting one's time). While I was not a converted Christian at the
time, I never reflected on its meaning or binding of conscience for
me.
B) Rutecki also has stated how easily the Supreme Court threw out
the Oath as any ethical standard in the Roe v. Wade
decision that opened the floodgates to abortion in the United
States. There was no binding of consciences there.
C) There is no binding of conscience by the Oath today. The
anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia clauses have been facilely cast
aside as needed. I see repeated references to the Oath by
medical-ethical writers and speakers today, but they choose one
portion to support while holding to a strong pro-abortion stand that
is opposed by another portion. That is, they pick and choose from
the Oath rather than support it as a standard. This fact may derive
from severe weaknesses in the Oath itself which we will now examine.
Is the Oath Really Pro-life?
Fourth, too much has been read into the pro-life statements of
the Oath. "I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce
abortion" only proscribes one method of abortion. It says
nothing about medications or surgical methods to produce abortion.
Such a narrow stance more likely reflects a bias towards a
particular medical treatment within the Hippocratic cult than a
general statement against all abortions.
Similarly, "I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked,
nor suggest any such counsel" may prohibit the physician only from
conspiring with a patient's enemies to poison him. "It does not
pledge the physician to prolonging life or even to having any
ethical duty to care for the dying" (Veatch, "Hippocratic...," p.
93). Again, this narrowly limited phrase is hardly a solid basis for
a pro-life position.
I admit my own gullibility here. Until I began to read further in
my concern over this debate about the Oath, I had not considered the
narrowness, nay the falsity, of the Oath as a pro-life defense.
These limited statements of the Oath argue strongly against it as
any standard to bind consciences in medical-ethical issues.
Is Romans 1 True?
Fifth, God has provided a conscience within the unbeliever.
"That which is known about God is evident within them; for
God has made it evident to them. For since the creation of the
world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine
nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what
has been made, so that they are without excuse" (Romans
1:19-20).
The previous four arguments pale beside this one. Christian
proponents of the Hippocratic Oath would rather appeal to the weak,
inconsistent, ethereal tradition of that Oath rather than to the
God-implanted conscience of unbelievers!
I will go further. Might we not have here two separate
traditions? One is Biblical orthodoxy. The other is Enlightenment
thought that has consciously and forcefully tried to eliminate God
and His ethics from any influence or presence in modern man and his
society. Cannot an argument be made that proponents of the
Hippocratic Oath contend for Enlightenment thought that has been
built upon Greek and Latin philosophies?
Dr. Veatch's research has concluded that at the moment of
"convergence" of the Hippocratic and Christian traditions, a
Christian version of the oath appears. It seems that these
earlier Christians were concerned not to incorporate the
Hippocratic Oath into their culture.
This push for a pagan oath seems stranger still in the United
States...
Let's Awaken the American Conscience!
Sixth, Christianity is the (possible) fertile soil for a
Biblical standard. One recent Gallup poll has shown that 83% of
Americans are Protestant or Catholic. Some 95 percent of Americans
believe in "God." Eighty-one percent believe that the Bible is the
"inspired Word of God," although 60 percent of these believe that it
should not be interpreted literally (40 percent believe that it
should be interpreted literally).
I am not naive about these statistics. In fact, I lament in this
newsletter often about the dreadful Biblical ignorance of American
Christians. However, most Americans identify themselves with the
Bible and with Christianity. The more clear truth that they are
confronted with, the more likely they are to be active, growing
Christians or they will no longer identify themselves as Christians
because they do not believe the truth.
Relative to this situation, I refer back to Rutecki's mention of
"All truth is God's truth." I grate every time I hear that phrase.
Yes, it's true, but it is not helpful and it mis-directs discussion.
The determination of truth is a deep philosophical issue that belies
the simple statement "All truth is God's truth."
It is purposeful that God chose to call His Word a "Sword"
(Ephesians 6:17). Its first cut is a separation of all mankind into
two groups: believers and unbelievers. Do you get the import of that
statement? All mankind is divided into two groups simply on the
basis of their belief from the Bible as the Word of God that Jesus
Christ is Savior. Once the Bible is believed, then one can begin to
mine its truth (a hermeneutical pursuit that is not necessary for
our discussion here).
Truth outside the Bible, however, is impossible to prove. For
example, a debate rages between classical physics and Einstein's
theories. Today's medical treatments are tomorrow's jokes. The
understanding of radioisotope decay and a young earth are difficult
to integrate.
Unfortunately, we cannot do more than present the problem of the
determination of truth here. Suffice it that the shibboleth "All
truth is God's truth" is not helpful and obscures the difficult (and
often impossible) task of determining truth.
Dr. Stanley Hauerwas writes:
"Christians have lost their ability to say anything
constructive in the abortion controversy because they have
accepted the constraint of speaking within the framework of a
pluralistic society. That is, whatever we say about abortion
must be based on principles acceptable to society at large, that
is on principles with no distinctive religious character... As
Christians, we simply abandon society to its own limits if our
voice in the debate does not carry our own particular
convictions as Christians." (Quoted in Stephen S. Bilynskyj,
"Christian Ethics and the Ethics of Virtue," in David K. Clark
and Robert V. Rakestraw, Eds.,Readings in Christian Ethics:
Volume 1, Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1994, pp.
264-265.)
In the Old Testament, prophets began "Thus saith the Lord." I
wonder if we err today in not following their example to both
Christians and non-Christians. The Bible is easily arguable as
the most potent language in existence. With its promises and
threats (infallibly applied by an omnipotent God), what else can
compare in motivation? Yet, we shy away from God's truth with
watered-down, cryptic messages designed not to offend.
After years of writing, I am drawn more and more to the use of
the specific language of Scripture. I recently wrote Dr. John C.
Gienapp, the central figure in the recent mandates for abortion
education in Ob-Gyn education programs. While I primarily argued for
him to rescind the requirement, I also warned him of God's judgment
on him and his family. Perhaps that was an error. I won't "win
friends and influence people," but does he not need to be warned of
God's wrath for his determined killing of unborn babies?
Frankly, I don't do that often. But, I debate in my mind whether
I should do it more. I debate whether pro-lifers ought to do it
more. I debate whether all Christians ought to do it more. The
promises (and threats) are from God's words, not ours!
Let's Confront the "Nonreligious" with
Their Religious Beliefs
The battle of light and darkness in this nation will be decided
in public debate or actual armed conflict at several levels. The key
to winning the public debate (if it is winnable and I am not sure
that it is) is to force all debate onto religious grounds. Every
idea of what one ought to do, that is, moral instruction, is
religious. Religion must be defined in that way for Christians
to have any chance in public debate, else we are simply brushed
aside as irrelevant.
Education of children is a religious issue. All laws of
government are religious. The concept of the family is religious.
The practice of medicine is religious, and an Oath to that practice
is religious. Every facet of discussion that tells me or you or
another what to do or not to do is reli gious. The question is
not whether religion ought to determine culture and law, but
which religion will determine culture and law. Currently,
the Religious Left is in power (in spite of recent conservative
victories at the polls).
Christians have lost the battle before it is engaged if they do
not understand this defining principle. We may win some minor
battles, but right principles will not be implemented by Biblically
ignorant legislators. Worse, as Hauerwas said, "we abandon society
to its own limits" (that is, an ethics of literal death and
destruction).
What of Cobelligerency?
The invocation of some who advocate a non-Christian approach to
abortion and the Hippocratic Oath is Francis Schaeffer's
"cobelligerency." His only mention (that I know of) is:
"Christians must realize that there is a difference between
being a cobelligerent (sic) and an ally. At times you
will seem to be saying exactly the same thing as the New Left
elite or the Establishment elite. If there is social injustice,
say there is social injustice. If we need order, say we need
order. In these cases, and at these specific points, we
would be cobelligerents. But do not align yourself as though
you are in either of these camps: You are an ally of neither.
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is different from either --
totally different." Ed's emphasis. (The Church at the End of
the 20th Century, Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity
Press, 1970, p. 37)
I leave it to readers with this actual context of Schaeffer's
words to judge whether the pro-life movement has kept to Schaeffer's
distinctions. For sure, it has largely "aligned" itself with the
a-religious camp when it chooses to leave God and His Word out of
the debate. I also leave it to Schaeffer's students to prove
"cobelligerency" from Scripture. I think that they will find it
difficult.
Back to the Hippocratic Oath
Suppose the efforts to revive the Hippocratic Oath are directed
toward defining all debates about "ought" as religious. Suppose we
force the abortion debate as a religious issue. Suppose we taught
our legislators to think religiously. Perhaps to hope for these
events is to hope for Christ's reign in the Millennium.
My mind is not closed on the place of the Hippocratic Oath. Two
great men whom I esteem and who are my mentors advocate its
importance. However, at this stage of my thinking, I am not even
close to being convinced. I stand primarily on the fifth and sixth
arguments above, but other arguments have gaping holes as I have
discussed.
In the beginning was the Word and the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God....
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it. John
1:1-2, 4-5
Briefs with Commentary
Conflict on the Left: Animals vs. Humans
While the red ribbon symbol of compassion for AIDS patients
remains prominent, it seems that the "No. 1 hip cause on the planet"
is "animal rights." AIDS patients are irate! One agenda of the
animal rights advocates is the elimination of animals from medical
research, including AIDS research! (Chicago Tribune, May
26, 1995, Section 1, p. 25)
Commentary: Your worldview is only as good as it is
consistent... and is centered on truth. Liberals have been
caught on the horns of their worldview. They cannot defend animal
research and AIDS patients at the same time. They got themselves
into this dilemma when they failed to call for sexual morality to
prevent the spread of AIDS.
There are only two sets of ethics: those that are pro-life and
those that are pro-death. When Moses set before his people the
choice of life or death (Deuteronomy 30) and Jesus said, "I am the
way, the truth, and the life..." John 14:6), they were speaking
literally on both physical and spiritual levels.
Teleological ethics is concerned with ends. From a Biblical
perspective, the telos of one's ethics can only be one of
two: health and life or disease and death. See -- ethics is not all
that complicated!
The Hypocrisy of the AMA Continues
Recently, the American Medical Association gave its "Report Card
on Violence in America." Its grade was "D," but it ought to have
been "H" for itself for hypocrisy. The AMA went after gun control,
blamed crime on socioeconomic status, and called for increased
scrutiny by physicians for "domestic violence." (Chicago Tribune,
June 14, 1995, Section 1, p. 1, 6)
The AMA's next president, Dr. Lonnie Bristow, is black. He
believes that the AMA should "close down the tobacco industry,
sponsor health clubs for children and older Americans, and push for
legislation to end 'managed profiteering' by corporation-run health
maintenance organizations." (Chicago Tribune, June 21,
1995, Section 1, p. 4)
Commentary: The AMA is no paragon of virtue to say anything
moral. In the 1970s, it was caught holding tobacco stocks in its
portfolio. Only in 1968 did the AMA adopt bylaws banning racial
discrimination in its membership and other medical organizations. It
has recently advocated the harvesting of organs from living
anencephalic babies.
It is interesting that the AMA decries those "big bad HMOs" who
are greedy. Well, the AMA welcomed Medicare in 1965 and its members
gouged the government for every nickel they possibly could. Result:
runaway medical inflation. Next result: HMOs designed to curb those
costs.
So, the AMA condemns a solution to what it helped cause. It
condemns activities which it previously advocated. Some critics of
the AMA say that its chief goal is to protect physicians' incomes.
That contention is not hard to prove: just read any issue of the
AMA News. Its most prominent articles concern physicians'
incomes (directly or indirectly).
Organ Donation Debate Getting Aggressive,
Ghoulish
Commentary: The headline here was the headline in a recent
article in the Chicago Tribune (June 14, 1995, Section 2, pp. 1, 4).
If I as a "conservative medical ethicist were to use "aggressive" or
"ghoulish," little notice might be given. However, when a secular
newspaper uses those words, a loud alarm has been sounded.
With 50,000 people a year registering for organ transplants, only
18,000 organs are available. Transplant specialists are pushing for
"aggressive" methods to ensure more organs. Such actions might
include state or federal laws that assume anyone's organs may be
donated unless they carry a card or have otherwise clearly stated
that they do not want their organs donated.
A "ghoulish" recommendation is to "redefine death" to include
anencephalic babies and adults in persistent vegetative states. The
AMA has officially endorsed anencephalics as organ donors, as they
flirt with giving consent to euthanasia, so that domino has already
fallen.
Keep alert! Watch for state and federal laws on this subject and
the AMA to continue to lead us down their ethical road of death.
Remember that a potential donor is alive when they take his
major organs (heart, lungs, and liver). It is the taking of the
organs that kills the "donor," not the condition which caused his
severe medical state.
There may seem to be a fine line between causing death by the
taking of organs and allowing the "donor" to die of his medical
condition, but these "aggressive" and "ghoulish" designs clearly
show the power of that distinction. If implemented, such actions
would severely compromise individual and family freedoms and remove
one more obstacle on the dangerous "slippery slope."
Follow-up: Near Death Experiences
Unbeknownst to me, an article on near-death experiences (NDE)
appeared in Christianity Today (April 3, 1995, pp. 39-42), as I was
writing the May Reflections in which I briefly discussed such
events. That article in CT is quite good. The author, Douglas
Groothuis, has also published a book, Deceived by the Light (Harvest
House).
Then, as I was finishing this edition of "Briefs," Physician
(Focus on the Family) for July/August 1995 arrived. Its cover
article concerned NDE. However, they vacillate to include all sides
of the issue (as they usually do), rather than focus on a
Biblical understanding, as Groothuis does.
It seems that NDE is gaining popularity again!
More on the AMA: Slaughter of the
Innocents and Coddling of the Guilty
Several years ago, the AMA stated that physicians' participation
in capital punishment was unethical. Recently, they extended that
prohibition to include "the medical treatment of mentally
incompetent death-row inmates that renders them competent to face a
death sentence." (American Medical News, July 3/10, 1995,
pp. 3, 30)
Commentary: The incongruity of the AMA staggers an ethical mind.
It condones, nay vehemently defends, 4,000+ abortions every day,
while it coddles convicted murderers. While these "Briefs" were not
intended to be a repetitive attack on the AMA, they seem to have
become that. But, then, the AMA has become the opposite of what it
is supposed to be: a protector and healer of life. It needs to be
exposed for what it has become.
The Vanity of the Breast Damages Medicine
Most Americans could probably care less about the lawsuits and
controversy over silicon breast implants. However, we are all being
affected. God designed our bodies with powerful defenses to reject
foreign substances. Silicon is one of the few substances that does
not trigger a major rejection by the body. Thus, it has been used
for breast implants.
However, silicon is used in many other medical devices:
catheters, heart valves, prosthetic devices, pacemakers, etc. The
liability that silicon has caused from breast implants is causing
all medical products with any quantity of silicon to be
withdrawn from the market. Perhaps, a substitute for silicon can be
found, but it is likely that much suffering and possibly death will
occur from this withdrawal.
Society is indeed a whole. What one part does will affect the
whole. Who would have thought the worship of women's breasts would
cause a major medical threat? But, then, God did warn us that He is
a jealous God and will not tolerate the worship of other gods.
|
