Healing and the Kingdom
By the time we get to chapter 9 of Luke’s gospel, we see Christ’s Kingdom ministry in full swing. At the start of the chapter we see the commissioning of the twelve for kingdom work, by the middle we...
View ArticleThe Resurrection Body
“Thou art gone, our precious darling, Never more can thou return, But to sleep, a peaceful slumber, Till the resurrection morn.” Today is Resurrection Sunday, the Festival of Easter, when we celebrate...
View ArticleThe Body and the Blood
I recently read an interesting article by pastor Kim Riddlebarger on the Lord’s Supper. His premise is simple: we should celebrate the Lord’s Supper more frequently than once a month or once a...
View ArticleCooking the Books at the VA
Dr. Joseph Kelley is a guest blogger this week. Recent news stories have been exploring accusations that many veterans died while waiting many months for care at the Veterans Administration (VA)...
View ArticleCIA Polio Vaccination Program
Whenever ethicists talk about the practice of medicine, the concept of trust is bound to come up. It is the fabric of the physician-patient relationship. Instead of being a purely technical field...
View ArticleVA Secretary Resigns
This week Eric Shinseki announced that he would step down as Secretary of Veterans Affairs. According to the reporting of Bob Schieffer and others, it is becoming clear the VA hospital system has a...
View ArticleStrengthening from the Supper
I’d like to follow up on a recent post I made on the Lord’s Supper (see “The Body and the Blood” on May 11, 2014). One of the important things to remember about Communion is that it is for our...
View ArticleThe Fountain of Youth
“Since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Two weeks ago, family physician Joe Gibes wrote on the...
View ArticleJimmy Savile and the Hospitals
This week, a report released by the British government details sexual abuse by Jimmy Savile and its relationship to NHS hospitals. Remarkably, the blockbuster entertainer went decades escaping...
View ArticleWhat Is Driving Our Health Care?
Katie Jennings recently wrote in Politico Magazine of the American Medical Association’s role in American health care policy, particularly concerning pricing for services (see “The Secret Committee...
View ArticleMemorial to Lives Unworthy of Life
Germany unveiled a World War II memorial this week. It is the first to commemorate those with medical problems who were deemed unworthy of life (Lebensunwertes Leben) and were exterminated by the Nazi...
View Article“Enhancement” and Moral Development
Oxford ethicist Julian Sevulescu and Swedish philosopher Ingmar Persson argue in their book Unfit for the Future: The Urgent Need for Moral Enhancement that now is the time to introduce neurological...
View ArticleFair-minded Medicine
“Let us therefore celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” – 1 Corinthians 5:9 I attended a funeral this...
View ArticleThe Religion of the American Immortal
Penn bioethicist Dr. Zeke Emanuel has been a lightning rod in the health-care field for some time. He has been the subject of a flurry of media reports on so-called “death panels” and has even...
View ArticleThe Price of Drugs
Lesley Stahl of CBS recently did a story for 60 Minutes on the high price of cancer drugs. Physicians at Memorial Sloan Kettering and M.D. Anderson have been seeking to remedy the “financial toxicity”...
View ArticleSpiritual Matters and Bioethics
Halloween has come and gone, and as is typical in recent American history, it was a big deal and big business. My town hosted a city-wide event last weekend, so a drive near the courthouse square was...
View ArticleThe Importance of Ethical Standards
This week, banking regulators announced fines totaling over $4 billion against six banks from around the world, including Switzerland’s UBS and the USA’s JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America. Some...
View ArticleWhy Ethicists Should Speak Out Against Torture
Sen. Feinstein of the U.S. Senate released a committee report two months ago on the use of torture by CIA interrogators in the 2000s. While some have expressed outrage, many have been silent on the...
View ArticleFools Rushing In?
Trevor Stammers is our guest blogger for today. Dr. Stammers is the Programme Director for Bioethics and Medical Law at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham in London. Prior to St. Mary’s, he practiced...
View ArticleRebuilding Trust
The Texas Tribune reported this week that legislators in Austin have proposed a bill that would forbid physicians from asking their patients about guns. Joe Gibes has commented on this issue in this...
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