Contemporary Catholic Health Care Ethics / Edition 1

by David F. Kelly

Overview

First discussing the Catholic understanding of the human person, Kelly proposes a Catholic Christian approach to the meaning of human life as it applies specifically to health care. He includes a brief history of the relationship between religion and medicine, and makes strong claims about how theology ought and ought not to be applied in health care ethics. Drawing from the terminology and approaches used by secular bioethics, he suggests how a Catholic perspective on health care can utilize certain secular moral-philosophical positions, even as they apply to the issues of birth control, and end-of life concerns. As practitioners, patients, and families face the difficult decision to continue or stop treatment for dying patients, Kelly compassionately, but practically, explores their concerns in light of American law and ethics. Finally, he provides measured insight on pain management, hospital ethics committees, stem cell research, genetic engineering, and allocation of health care resources.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589010307
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2004
Edition description:	Older Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

David F. Kelly is professor emeritus, Duquesne University.

Gerard Magill is Vernon F. Gallagher Chair for the Integration of Science, Theology, Philosophy, and Law, Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University.

Henk ten Have is the director of the Center for Healthcare Ethics, Duquesne University.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	xi
	List of Abbreviations	xv
Part I	Theological Basis
1	Religion and Health Care	3
2	The Dignity of Human Life	11
3	The Integrity of the Human Person	25
4	The Implications for Health Care	34
5	Theological Principles in Health Care Ethics	41
Part II	Method
6	The Levels and Questions of Ethics	51
7	Freedom and the Moral Agent	56
8	Right and Wrong	63
9	Metaethics	77
10	Method in Catholic Medical Ethics	88
11	Catholic Method and Birth Control	99
12	The Principle of Double Effect	108
Part III	Application
13	Forgoing Treatment, Pillar One: Ordinary and Extraordinary Means	127
14	Forgoing Treatment, Pillar Two: Killing and Allowing to Die	134
15	Forgoing Treatment, Pillar Three: Decisions by Competent Patients	143
16	Forgoing Treatment, Pillar Three: Decisions for Incompetent Patients	153
17	Forgoing Treatment, Pillar Three: Advance Directives	170
18	Hydration and Nutrition	183
19	Physician-Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia	196
20	Medical Futility	206
21	Pain and Pain Management	220
22	Ethics Committees	229
23	Embryonic Stem Cells and the Beginning of Personhood	245
24	Genetic Engineering	260
25	Allocating Health Care Resources	270
26	The Use and Misuse of the Allocation Argument	286
	Glossary	297
	Cases Cited	302
	References	303
	Index	325

What People are Saying About This

Thomas A. Shannon

The second edition of Contemporary Health Care Ethics is a welcome addition to the religious bioethics literature. It supplements the original edition with excellent discussions of the standard issues in bioethics from the perspectives of both recent scholarship and theological analysis. The second edition is a most helpful guide through the ever increasing complexities of contemporary bioethics.

Lisa Sowle Cahill

More than an introduction to bioethics, this work acquaints the reader with the major debates in Catholic moral theology since Vatican II. Kelly is erudite, careful, and lucid. He is also willing to challenge received views and is not afraid to take on hard dilemmas created by the U.S. health care and legal systems. The final chapter on health resource allocation is particularly incisive, orderly, and sane. A superb and provocative text for a Catholic seminary or college, Contemporary Catholic Health Care Ethics will also serve as a tremendous resource for ethicists and health care professionals.

James J. Walter

The second edition has been made even better. . . . New chapters on research ethics, organizational ethics, issues in genetics, and global bioethics have been added to make this a more complete text for anyone interested in a Catholic reflection on health care ethics.

Joseph Selling

David Kelly is straightforward in his claim to a specifically Catholic contribution to biomedical ethics, particularly in reference to the development of moral method. Yet, he is honestly critical about the same tradition that could be both ambiguous and confusing (especially about the regulation of fertility). More important, however, is that Kelly takes the tradition to the next step, not in coming up with ‘answers’, but in providing a framework for informed and reasonable analysis and decision-making in health care issues.

From the Publisher

"The second edition of Contemporary Health Care Ethics is a welcome addition to the religious bioethics literature. It supplements the original edition with excellent discussions of the standard issues in bioethics from the perspectives of both recent scholarship and theological analysis. The second edition is a most helpful guide through the ever increasing complexities of contemporary bioethics." -- Thomas A. Shannon, professor emeritus, religion and social ethics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute

"The second edition has been made even better.... New chapters on research ethics, organizational ethics, issues in genetics, and global bioethics have been added to make this a more complete text for anyone interested in a Catholic reflection on health care ethics." -- James J. Walter, Austin & Ann O'Malley Chair in Bioethics, The Bioethics Institute, Loyola Marymount University

Charles E. Curran

David F. Kelly brings many significant strengths to this book—a broad and deep understanding of the Catholic theological-ethical tradition, a perceptive dialogue with a vast amount of bioethical literature, a sharp, clear, and perceptive mind, and a very engaging pedagogical style. The book very competently and comprehensively deals with both theological-ethical methods and with all the significant practical issues in bioethics today. This is the one book I would use as a textbook in Catholic bioethics.

Editorial Reviews

I warmly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Roman Catholic way of thinking about questions in the field of medical ethics.

Ethics and Medicine

Every bioethicist should read Contemporary Catholic Health Care Ethics. . . . Its worth comes from exemplifying a re-engagement with ethical theory, religious principles, and spiritual thinking that is missing from contemporary bioethics in the United States.

Medical Humanities Review

Reviewer: Gina M Fullam, BS (Saint Louis University)
Description: An update of the 2004 first edition, this book explores foundations, methods, and applied questions in Catholic healthcare ethics.
Purpose: The authors state that the purpose is to offer an alternative to Catholic healthcare ethics books that present and defend the definitive teachings of the Church, such as the classic, Health Care Ethics: A Catholic Theological Analysis, 5th edition, Ashley et al. (Georgetown University Press, 2006). The authors "are convinced that there are some problems with the method usually used in traditional Catholic medical ethics and with some, though by no means all, of the conclusions reached by that method." The authors indeed offer an alternative method (proportionalism), and also propound ethical conclusions at odds with Church teaching on issues such as contraception, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. However, both their arguments against Church teachings and their arguments in favor of proportionalism are lacking.
Audience: The authors primarily write for an audience of students, with clinical ethicists also in mind. The title suggests a principally Catholic audience, but the anthropological distinctions and debates to which they devote substantial space also indicate a target audience of Protestants and non-Christians. Finally, though the authors seemingly write to all students of Catholic healthcare ethics, their assertion-style way of dismissing much of the Catholic tradition and promoting a proportionalist ethics results in a book perhaps congenial to those with proportionalist sympathies, but otherwise disappointing even from a theoretical perspective.
Features: The authors' tour through theological anthropology and methodology in the first two parts of the book is at times interesting and useful, introducing basic terminology, themes, and the like. However, while the authors explicitly state that they take issue with parts of traditional Catholic bioethics, they are often misleading in their failure to acknowledge definitions, evaluative judgments, etc., where they have less obviously departed from Church teaching. In addition, the applied topics in part III are often disconnected from the theological anthropology and methods outlined in parts I and II and, even on less contentious issues, reach conclusions without any aid from Catholic bioethics, raising the question of in what sense the book is about Catholic healthcare ethics.
Assessment: The proportionalist method and conclusions forwarded in this book may be past their prime for Catholic bioethics, having been denounced by Pope John Paul II in the 1990s. Even considered as a theoretical exploration, the slightly expanded second edition continues to disappoint in its argumentation.

Doody's Review Service

Far outpaces other texts of its kind in its excellent presentation of the legal and scientific aspects related to medical ethics.

Health Progress

Provides a mixture of medical and religious wisdom that helps explain how and why the Catholic healthcare establishment arrives at its conclusions.

Conscience