Gene Editing of Human Beings
In this article from the summer 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. David Prentice discusses how genetic engineering has the potential for great benefit and great harm.
Decreasing Isolation in Healthcare
Dr. Autumn Dawn Galbreath shares how Christians can find respite in community in this article published in the summer 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor.
Am I Too Old to Practice?
In the cover story from the summer 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Al Weir discusses an important question for all healthcare professionals: when is the right time to retire from practicing?
Today’s Christian Doctor – Summer 2018
In the summer 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Al Weir discusses an important question for all healthcare professionals: when is the right time to retire from practicing? Other topics include the latest bioethical issues in gene editing, finding community in healthcare and standing up for your beliefs in the workplace.
An Embryo by Any Other Name
Some recent stories illustrate the continuing obsession, by some in the scientific community, with trying to make embryos in a way that “gets around” the ethical and legal barriers erected to protect young human life. Dr. David Prentice explores these recent attempts.
Flying Loaves
Dr. Clydette Powell is a wonderful physician in Christ who has been recently overwhelmed with responsibilities, in part due to her loving care of her 90-year-old mother who has been very ill. Clydette sent the following incident out to friends by email and gave me permission to share.
New Federal Rule Protects Conscience and Opens the Door to Pro-Life Family Planning Programs
In this week’s blog post, Jonathan Imbody shares about a new proposed federal rule that, if finalized after a public comment period ending July 31, will allow pro-life medical professionals and programs to finally take advantage of family planning grants opportunities.
Good Witness
My wife’s sister had a severe bout of pneumonia recently, and she is living with us for a few weeks while she recuperates. God bless my wife. The two of them are as different as rice and coal. They drive each other crazy, and my wife often is heavily weighed down by her sister’s actions and lack of appreciation. She was crying with me about this one morning recently. I came home that evening and she said she and her sister had talked. “The first thing I said to her was, ‘Do you know that you will have eternal life when you die?’” What seems an abrupt and unnatural question to me, given the circumstances, led to a wonderful time of renewal both of personal faith and of sisterly love.
HIV Education and How Not To Do It
A few landmines are lurking in the field of our state’s educational laws. California Education Code 51931 “definitions” section details that only “medically accurate” information can be taught. Seemingly fair enough. Also, Code 51933 states: “(4) Instruction and materials shall not reflect or promote bias against any person on the basis of any category protected by Section 220.
Stairway Love
We were in their country, not ours. The hotel was bustling with students, local Christian doctors, American physicians, dentists and nurses—rapid movement in all directions, a controlled chaos shepherding hundreds toward a life with Jesus. Randy, an American dentist, was moving through the crowds when he noticed one of the students seemed distressed. She was one who had been most outspoken against the gospel. Randy spoke to her and discovered her grandfather was very ill. He placed his arm around the girl and asked if he might pray for her. There on the stairs of the busy hotel, Randy sat with his arm around the student and prayed.
The Rise of Blastoids
Dr. Joy Riley raises several ethical questions introduced by the production of “blastoids,” embryo-like structures from stem cells in a recent study.
Christian Medical Association Physicians Laud New Federal Conscience Rule as Protecting Patient Access to Healthcare
Today the Christian Medical Association the nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians and other health professionals, said a new proposed rule announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will help protect patient access to healthcare.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – June 2018
In this month’s podcast, Dr. David Stevens chats with Dr. Walt Larimore about how to build a spiritual team in your practice, as well as about Grace Prescriptions. Next, Dr. Ryan Anderson joins him as he shares about his new book When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment.
Useful Prayer
I know God heals, and I often pray with those who are severely ill. But I rarely pray for the impossible in fully sincere ways, with my personal experience that God is very selective with His miracles. With Daryl I did pray sincerely, in full faith. He was at the end of our possible therapies and still worsening in his illness. I placed my hands upon his shoulder and called upon God to heal him. I did not use the escape clause, “If it is your will.” I left the room expecting the impossible. That was two weeks ago. Today, while in Albania on a mission trip, I received word of Daryl’s death.
Council on Judicial and Ethical Affairs
Compassion & Choices uses every trick in the book to get physician-assisted suicide legalized in individual states, and they never give up. They fund polling with leading questions in the vein of, “Would you like to die in terrible pain hooked up to a machine by doctors who won’t let you die or should physicians aid you in dying?” They then tout the results as overwhelming support for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide to the media and anyone else who will listen.
CMA Doctors Support Administration Proposal to Tighten Abortion-Related Safeguards in Family Planning Funding
Washington, DC—May 18, 2018–The 19,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA,www.cmda.org) today expressed support for administration plans to disentangle taxpayer funds from abortion as a method of family planning.
California Judge Overturns Assisted Suicide
Bristol, TN–The nation’s largest faith-based organization, the 19,000-member Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA, www.cmda.org), today hailed a California judge’s ruling in its lawsuit against assisted suicide in California.
Praying With Patients
Dr. Autumn Dawn Galbreath explores what a variety of secular physicians have to say about praying with patients in the exam room. It’s a topic that is vastly important to Christian healthcare professionals. Not surprisingly, there was a wide range of options among secular physicians.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – May 2018
In this month’s episode…
Joy
Ramazan was sitting on a sea side chair when I returned from my early morning jog on the beach at Durres, Albania. I had offered to wait for him, but he had been up late the night before and missed our appointment. I asked him if he would still like to run a couple of miles and we did so slowly. The run gave me the chance to ask him, “Are you any closer to following Christ?” He said he was not quite there. As we were walking into the hotel I asked him, “If you could have one thing in life, what would that be?” He answered, “I guess it would be happiness.” “What does happiness mean to you?” “You know, more good things happen to me than bad.” “Do you know what joy is?” I asked.
Renewing the Mountaintop Experience
In this article from the spring 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Bryant Stoudt shares seven ideas that you can use to apply what you learned on a mission trip in your busy, everyday life.
Cultivating Culture
Author Ben Palpant encourages you to view culture as a garden to cultivate in order to see true change in this article published in the spring 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor.
Lessons Learned: Facing Physician-Assisted Suicide
Dr. Rachel B. DiSanto shares how she learned how to stand up for Christian principles in the fight against physician-assisted suicide in this article published in the spring 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor.
Battling the Opioid Epidemic
In this article published in the spring 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Stephen Manchester outlines how you can integrate spiritual care into opioid treatment in your practice. Plus, for the first time in the magazine’s history, you can earn continuing education credit with this article.
Abortion and Sex Issues Incite Opposition to Conscience Freedom Rule
his is the eighth in a series of on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. To find more from the series, visit www.cmda.org/thepoint or freedom2care.blogspot.com.
A Review of “Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, Professional Psychology, and the Law”
An an article released in the BYU Journal of Public Law, Dr. Christopher Rosik examines the history of sexual orientation change effort/therapy (SOCE) bans and what they reveal about the interplay of professional psychology, political advocacy and cultural change. In this blog post, Dr. Andre Van Mol reviews his findings and how these bans affect healthcare professionals.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – April 2018
In this month’s episode, Dr. David Stevens first interviews Dr. Omari Hodge, a family medicine physician, about current race relations in the U.S. Next, he chats with Dr. Bill Brown, Senior Fellow of Worldview and Culture at the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview, on the topic of today’s worldview.
Today’s Christian Doctor – Spring 2018
In the spring 2018 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Stephen Manchester outlines how you can integrate spiritual care into opioid treatment in your practice. Other topics include standing up against physician-assisted suicide, cultivating culture and applying what you learn on a mission trip to your everyday life.
How We Got Where We Are: Same-Sex Reproduction
In the realm of sexual reproduction, the idea of in vitro fertilization, a technological (and for many an ethical) impossibility years ago, is now commonplace. And, as foreseen in the futuristic movie Gattaca, it may someday become the standard method of reproduction.
Conscience Freedoms Protect Against Ideological Agendas
This excerpt is the seventh in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations for the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. To find the series, visit www.cmda.org/thepoint.
Three California Bills Needing Attention
There are three bills pending in the California Assembly that beg your attention and action. They clearly seem intended to stand as national models. Dr. Andre Van Mol provides a brief on these bills, followed by talking points regarding their problems and where to lodge your protests.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – March 2018
In this month’s episode, Dr. David Stevens’ focus is on the new Health and Human Services Division on Conscience and Religious Freedom. He interviews Roger Severino, the Director for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Sara Hellwege, who filed a federal lawsuit in 2014 on the basis of discrimination due to her religious and moral convictions.
New HHS division, conscience freedom laws and policies protect patients and physicians
This excerpt is the sixth in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. The essays respond to “Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,” Ronit Y. Stahl, Ph.D. and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, New England Journal of Medicine 376;14, April 6, 2017.
Gay Parenting and Child Health Outcomes
by Andre Van Mol, MD
A 2016 article in the journal Demography asserted that health outcomes for children raised in either same-sex or different-sex married homes were about the same. Sociologist D.P. Sullins published a 2017 article in the same journal noting inadvertent but crushing mistakes in the measures for the 2016 paper, namely that the data taken from the National Health Interview Survey, administered by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), misclassified 42 percent of the sample’s same-sex married partners as opposite-sex.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – February 2018
Dr. David Stevens chats with Ben Cort about recovery, prevention, and harm reduction which comes from his own struggle with substance abuse. Also, Market Place Missions/Remedy Missions Conference Speaker, Larry McCrary discusses church planting.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – February 2014
Discussions with Walt Larimore, MD about his book Ultimate Guy’s Body Book, with Kennon Vaughn about evangelism through Downline Ministries, and an update on Physician Assisted Suicide in Montana with David Hafer, DDS.
Rights of Conscience, Moral Complicity and Free Speech
The title of the article might lead a reader to believe the authors support a physician’s right of conscience, but they do just the opposite. They strongly assert the will of the patient over the conscience of the physician. They write, “Making the patient paramount means offering and providing accepted medical interventions in accordance with patients’ reasoned decision,” and “Health care professionals who are unwilling to accept these limits [putting aside their own conscience to support patient autonomy] have two choices: select an area of medicine, such as radiology that will not put them in situations that conflict with their personal morality, or if there is no such areas, leave the profession.” While this quote would seem to apply to a broad variety of issues, in the context of the article the authors are referring to abortion.
Christian Medical Association Highlights Implementation of New US Policy Keeping Tax Dollars from Abortion Groups Overseas
Washington, DC, February 7, 2018—The 19,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), today lauded the administration’s implementation of the new Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy.
Are healthcare conscience laws needed?
This excerpt is the fifth in a series of essays on conscience in healthcare, by Jonathan Imbody, Vice President for Government Relations of the Christian Medical Association and Director of Freedom2Care. The essays respond to “Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,” Ronit Y. Stahl, Ph.D. and Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, New England Journal of Medicine 376;14, April 6, 2017.
Christian Medical Association Physicians Laud New Federal Conscience Rule as Protecting Patient Access to Healthcare
Washington, DC—January 19, 2018–Today the Christian Medical Association the nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians and other health professionals, said a new proposed rule announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will help protect patient access to healthcare.
National Institute of Family & Life Advocates v. Becerra
The freedom of speech is a bedrock principle of our nation, enshrined in the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. The right to speak or not to speak, however, is not unlimited. There are certain narrow exceptions when the government can, in fact, compel speech, including in the commercial or professional context.
Religious Freedom Wins Today
Bristol, Tennessee, January 18, 2018–Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA) applauds the decision today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to create a new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. Restoring federal enforcement of our nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and unalienable rights of conscience and religious freedom is crucial for the 19,000+ members of CMDA.
A Lack of Self-care in Healthcare
How many times have you gone to clinic when you were sicker than the patients you were treating? Listened to other people’s woes and stresses when your own were weightier? Given your last emotional resources to a patient whose need was less than your family member’s? Forfeited sleep while advising a patient of how curative it is? Advised a patient about nutrition and exercise right after scarfing a quick lunch from the vending machine?
Today’s Christian Doctor – Winter 2017
In the winter 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Mark Crouch explores the role of Christian healthcare professionals in authentic community development. Other topics include CMDA’s newest missions conference, relief work after Hurricane Harvey, the Psychiatry Section and an exclusive interview with the President of the American Medical Association.
CMDA’s The Point Blog Archive
A weekly blog keeping you updated on emerging topics relevant to today’s issues in healthcare written by CMDA’s staff and members. Perspectives and Opinions on Issues and News Topics is a publication of Christian Medical & Dental Associations®. Join the conversation with The Point, CMDA’s blog focusing on breaking news stories in bioethics and healthcare. CMDA’s experts contribute to the blog and also recommend additional resources and information.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – January 2018
In this month’s episode, Dr. David Stevens chats with Laurence G. Worthen about physicians and dentists who share a common goal to fully integrate their Christian faith with professional practice and an update on Physician-Assisted Suicide in Canada. Also, Nathan D’Jiim discusses his work for the Lord.
Q&A with David Barbe, MD
The American Medical Association’s (AMA) longstanding policy opposing physician-assisted suicide was technically reaffirmed in 2016 at the AMA Annual Meeting, when the AMA accepted the Council on Judicial and Ethical Affairs’ (CEJA) report to modernize the Opinions in the Code of Medical Ethics.
“Patient autonomy” – The Trojan Horse assault on conscience freedom in healthcare
Just as the Declaration of Geneva’s original commitment in 1948 to honor pre-born life fell to new ideology, so did the original commitment to healthcare professionals’ conscience freedom. The relevant clause in the original Declaration of Geneva read simply, “I will practice my profession with conscience and dignity.”
“My Child is Transgender. Make Her a Son.” Guidance for the Doctor.
A mother brings in her 10-year-old daughter because she identifies as male and wishes to promptly begin transitioning. Your advice is not solicited, just your authorization for the consult to get the process moving quickly.
Reporting on IVF Incidents
In the United Kingdom, patients pay for 60 percent of the 76,000 annual in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatments rendered. Britain’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the regulatory body overseeing both fertility treatment and embryo research, released in December its State of the Fertility Sector: 2016-17, a report detailing the health of the fertility sector in the UK.
Bedrock Oaths Vs. Zeitgeist Barometers
On the heels of World War II, with medical ethics in the spotlight following unconscionable Nazi atrocities, the World Medical Association (WMA) decided the Hippocratic Oath, which had guided medicine since around 500 BC, needed to be replaced. So the WMA developed a new oath that contained some of the principles of the ancient oath but opened the door to continual modernizing.
The “Five Solas,” Then and Now
October 31, 1517 is often identified as the birthdate of the Protestant Reformation. On this date Martin Luther purportedly nailed his “95 Theses” to the cathedral door in Wittenberg, Germany. Actually, as Eric Metaxas tells us in Martin Luther: The Man Who Rediscovered God and Changed the World…
Johnson Amendment in the Final Tax Bill
A letter to congressional leaders from a coalition of organizations regarding the Johnson Amendment and the tax reform bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (H.R. 1).
Treating the New Chronic Pain Patient
I had a tooth pulled last month. I wasn’t expecting much post-op pain because the tooth already had a root canal, years earlier. Yet with my mouth clamped on a large cotton wad after the procedure, I heard my oral surgeon say to his assistant, “Print out a script for Norco 7.5’s – 30 of them.”
The Commercialization of Marijuana
What happens when marijuana is legalized for either medical or recreational use with little regulation and almost no enforcement? Unfortunately, we know by looking at what has happened in Colorado over the last few years, as Ben Cort relates in his excellent book Weed, Inc.
FEMA Coalition Letter to President Trump
Coalition letter of religious and community leaders in support for S1823/H.R. 2405, the “Federal Disaster Assistance Nonprofit Fairness Act of 2017.” This legislation would ensure fair and equal treatment for houses of worship damaged in natural disasters.
Sharing Experiences and Decreasing Isolation in Healthcare
An article crossed both my inbox and my Facebook feed this week entitled “Here’s Why Women Doctors Need Time Together.” It certainly wasn’t an academic study, but, as a woman physician, I was intrigued by the title. One sentence summarizes the author’s major premise: “There is an amazing power in gathering, shared experiences and decreasing isolation.” And I agree. When I watch my kids play sports or perform, I gather with other parents who share that experience—and we cheer as loudly as we can. When my marriage needs refreshment, my husband and I gather with other couples who share the experiences, both joyful and difficult, of marriage—and the isolation of our challenges is decreased.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – November 2017
Reaching out to our world & those in need. Pat George discusses the opioid epidemic and where we can find help for those in addiction. Bob Bowers, MD shares from his book With Dr. Bob in Ethiopia, relating powerful stories of God’s goodness during difficult times on the mission field. Then John Patrick, MD and John Robson recount their story of how to present your witness to intelligent unbelievers.
Exciting Technologies and Ethical Applications
Some scientists have said one reason they don’t consult bioethicists or think about the ethical implications of their research is because ethicists usually say “no” to new technologies, or that ethics is arbitrary. But what they are really avoiding is the necessity of setting rational limits on science, thinking they can thereby avoid any limits on their work. Limits that protect all human beings, even nascent human life, are not arbitrary and actually say “yes” to some exciting—and ethical—applications of new technologies.
Christian Medical Association Doctors and Freedom2Care Applaud HHS Initiative to Connect Sex Education to Science
Washington, DC—November 3, 2017- The 19,000-member Christian Medical Association and the 30,000-strong Freedom2Care today applauded a new initiative by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services to ensure that its investment in sex education is backed by sound and objective scientific research.
Autonomy Quickly Translates to Tyranny
It’s one thing to expect physicians to do everything possible to advance healing for patients. It’s quite another to insist that whatever the patient wants, the patient gets—so the physician must provide it at risk of his or her career. Whenever one group gets its way regardless of the impact on others, that is not autonomy; that is tyranny.
Mistaken Identity: There is No Straight or Gay
Satan attacks identity, striving to separate us from who we are made to be. Mistaken identity is costly. In this week’s The Point blog, Dr. Andre Van Mol explores the concept of mistaken identity, the false identity of GLBT, and how it makes a difference in both medicine and science.
New Chinese Study Opens Ethical Can of Worms
A recent report of a “serious blood disorder” corrected by “chemical surgery” sounds like a dream come true. Ian Sample’s article in The Guardian also made the process sound efficient and clean, even sterile. However, a look behind the headline reveals some important facts to consider. Dr. Joy Riley explores the ethical issues in this week’s blog.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – October 2017
In the October 2017 issue of Christian Doctor’s Digest, we delve into the issues of Religious Liberty, the Sexology Movement and World Missions. Former Congressman Joe Pitt shares about what has and is happening in Congress to protect Religious Liberty. In an eye-opening & sometimes EXPLICIT interview, Bill Shaw, MD informs us about how we can respond to the rapidly changing Sexology Movement. Will Rogers talks about the unprecedented opportunities being found today in Medical Missions.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
The top 10 causes of death in the U.S., after heart disease and cancer, are Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), accidents, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, chronic renal disease and suicide. Some of these conditions are not preventable, so a more pertinent question is, what are the addressable risk factors for morbidity and premature death in general? And how do we focus on them with our patients?
CMA and Freedom2Care Applaud Administration’s Actions to Protect Conscience in Healthcare
Washington, DC—October 6, 2017 – Today the nation’s largest association of Christian health professionals, the 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) applauded the administration’s actions to restore conscience freedoms in healthcare. The administration took action concerning the Obamacare contraceptives mandate, insurance premiums used to pay for abortions, and regarding government respect for religious freedom.
“Choose, You Lose” Prescription Threatens the Conscience Rights of Every Professional
Affordable Care Act architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and University of Pennsylvania professor Ronit Stahl advocate barring from medicine all physicians who would decline a patient’s demand for morally controversial services such as abortion. However, a “patient comes first” rule turns medicine into a patient dictatorship with no checks and balances.
Sustaining Our Joy in Practice
My eldest child left for college this fall, having chosen to attend school in Scotland. Yes, that’s right. Scotland. It’s a long way away. It’s also a place I had never previously visited. We went on a family trip to Scotland in March—partly to visit the school he now attends, and partly to have one last bang-up family vacation before we became a family that no longer lives under one roof. On that trip, we had not one, but two, flat tires on our rental car. A consequence of our struggles driving on the left side of the road, perhaps?
Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act Coalition Letter
Letter to Representative Kevin McCarthy regarding the “Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act” (H.R. 36).
Gene Editing to Make Better Human Beings?
Gene editing has potential for great benefit but also for great evil. In the medical realm, great advances are possible, but this dual-use technology also could be used to design children, weaponize biological agents or even alter or dehumanize our concept of humanity. Dr. David Prentice explores how gene editing can be dangerous for healthcare professionals and their patients in this week’s blog post.
Masterpiece Cakeshop Amicus Brief
Whether, consistent with the First Amendment, an individual may be compelled, under color of nondiscrimination laws, to devote his or her creative efforts to the creation of custom products or services to be used to celebrate an event or relationship that he or she believes, by reason of faith or personal conviction, is immoral.
In US Supreme Court brief, Christian Doctors Cite Conscience Conflicts Similar to Creative Artists
The nation’s largest faith-based professional association of health professionals, the Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org), contends in a legal brief filed with the Supreme Court that its members’ conscience battles parallel those of creative artists sued for declining to participate in proceedings inconsistent with their conscience and convictions.
In Defense of Healthy Children: Recent Papers Expose the Truths About Dangerous Gender Dysphoria Treatments
According to new research by three expert physicians from Johns Hopkins, the most popular therapies to treat gender dysphoria in children are dangerous and biased. CMA Government Relations Fellow Anne Foster dives into this topic and how this should impact parents making their children’s health decisions.
Where Did My Joy Go…and How Do I Get It Back?
Looking over the edge of burnout, Dr. Betsy Manor had to ask herself, “What changed?” Did she make the wrong career choice? Does she care about people less? Is healthcare changing too much? In this article published in the fall 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Manor shares how she overcame burnout to find joy again in healthcare.
What Are You Training For?
Most of us have been involved to varying degrees with different types of training: training for our specialties, to run a race, to get in shape, to eat healthier, to get better in our areas of interest. We put tremendous amounts of time into our professional training. But what about our spiritual training? Dr. Jeff Amstutz discusses this topic in this article published in the fall 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor.
Efficient Care & Spiritual Care: Can You Do Both?
What do you do when a patient asks for prayer but you’re too busy to take the time? In today’s world of healthcare, where efficiency is the driver, how do you take the time to include your faith in your practice? In this article published in the fall 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Walt Larimore explains how you can offer both efficient care and spiritual care in your practice.
The Two Diagnoses
There was a time, a few decades ago, when most everyone interested in bringing together healthcare and the Christian faith was familiar with Dr. Paul Tournier and his work. In this article published in the fall 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Wilson Grant explores how Dr. Tournier’s message and style of medical practice is increasingly relevant to today’s healthcare professionals because he anticipated the loss of personal touch in the practice of healthcare.
Today’s Christian Doctor – Fall 2017
In the fall 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Dr. Walt Larimore explores ways you can incorporate spiritual care into your busy schedule. Other topics include the importance of spiritual training, overcoming burnout and more.
Influencing Legislatures Captive to Rainbow Ideology
Opponents of therapy for minors—and ultimately anyone—wanting to overcome undesired same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria have feverishly worked to enact bans against what is pejoratively labeled “conversion therapy.” Change therapy—be it called reparative therapy, sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) or the more recent nomenclature of SAFE-T (Sexual Attraction Fluidity Exploration in Therapy)—has been in the cross-hairs for years, as I wrote about here, and the false claims against it have registered with the public and legislatures alike.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – August 2017
In the August 2017 issue of Christian Doctor’s Digest, we seek to equip our members to face the challenges in our world today. James Garlow shares from his book Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today’s Tough Questions about how to handle some of the issues facing us that would have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. Jeff Keenan, MD brings an update on the National Embryo Donation Center and the important live saving work being done there. Plus Casy Mattox helps us understand the facts about Academic Freedom and the battle for Right of Conscience protections.
Crossing the Bright Red Line: Editing Human Beings
This blog originally appeared on the Tennessee Center for Bioethics and Culture blog. It is being republished with permission. For more information, visit www.tennesseecbc.org.
Christian Doctors Association Lauds Appointment of Sam Brownback as Religious Freedom Ambassador
The 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today hailed as a “signal of new hope for persons of faith enduring persecution and oppression” the presidential appointment of Samuel Brownback of Kansas to be Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Department of State. Mr. Brownback has been Governor of Kansas since 2011.
A “Bot” Too Far
In our technological world, it’s easier sometimes easier to have conversations with computers than with people. Dr. David Stevens just spent 35-minutes having a conversation about end of life options with Emily, an artificial intelligence robot. He shares how this is bad for you, as both a healthcare professional and as a patient.
Imagine
In 1971, John Lennon published a song by the title “Imagine.” In a slow, dreamy cadence, the Beatles musician invites the listener to, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try; no hell below us; above us only sky.” He continues, “Imagine there’s no countries; it isn’t hard to do; nothing to kill or die for; and no religion, too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace.”
A Life Broken by Overmedication
In my previous life, I was Dr. Sandy Dettmann, the director of pediatric emergency services at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I lived in a 6,000 sq. foot, custom-built home in the affluent suburb of Ada, had a gorgeous husband, was mother to five beautiful babies, served as president of my young children’s PTO and was my daughter’s Girl Scout leader. It was an idyllic and seemingly perfect life. But it didn’t last.
Send Them, & Go With Them
In July 2012, I was lying in an emergency department in Destin, Florida, wondering how a little gallbladder could cause me so much pain. I prayed for the pain to stop, and thankfully it did. The problem, however, did not go away. And as I headed home from the beach the next day, I grew more and more anxious about the upcoming healthcare mission trip to Haiti I was scheduled to go on in just two weeks with CMDA’s Global Health Outreach (GHO).
Transforming Ecuador
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: “Short-term mission trips are a waste. They do more harm than good. Americans only go on mission trips to help feel better about themselves and their lives. Short-term teams aren’t trained to serve cross-culturally.
My Transformation Story – featuring Dr. David and Carol McFarland
We could give you a list a mile long with statistics about the work we do around the world. But those numbers don’t really show the amazing things God is doing through us as we seek to be “Transformed Doctors, Transforming the World.”
Gratitude Journals and Healthcare: How Can They Help?
I am very much a can-do person—attacking the tasks in front of me with an astonishing willpower. We’re all like that, right? We wouldn’t have made it through medical school and residency otherwise! But when push comes to shove, I am not necessarily grateful or optimistic. I can tend toward the negative if left to my own human nature. In contrast, I know some people who just seem to have been born genetically positive and optimistic. They are resilient in the face of difficulty, always expect the best from every person or situation, and seem to have an easier time trusting God in their daily lives than I do. Maybe it’s just the outside appearance, but those positive people seem to enjoy life more than I often do.
Life—Artificial or Natural?
There continue to be reports of new attempts to create life, sometimes labeled “synthetic” or “artificial” because the entity is not created the old-fashioned way, i.e., by fertilization of an egg with a sperm. The most recent report involved combining two different types of stem cells to form an embryo-like structure that was labeled “artificial.”
Today’s Christian Doctor – Summer 2017
In the summer 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, Ron Brown highlights the results of Global Health Outreach’s long-term strategy in missions. Other topics include the opioid epidemic, fellowship in healthcare and sharing experiences with students.
Applying Pressure to the 14-Day Rule
Conducting research on embryos beyond 14 days’ gestation is against the law in 12 countries, including the United Kingdom; the U.S. has only “guidelines” recommending the 14-day limit. Now researchers and others are pushing against that limit. They find it too confining. Where did this rule/guideline originate?
Amici Brief – Illinois Healthcare Right of Conscience Act
Brief filed by Americans United for Life in support of Plaintiffs, National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Bruce Rauner and Bryan Schneider. Amici includes American Association of Prolife Obstetricians and Gynecologist, American College of Pediatricians, Christian Medical and Dental Associations and Heartbeat International.
CMA Doctors Laud Administration’s Common Sense Approach to Contraceptives and the First Amendment
The nation’s largest faith-based association of doctors, the Christian Medical Association (www.cmda.org), today urged the Trump administration to follow through on a promised common sense contraceptives policy, outlined in a document leaked yesterday, that accommodates First Amendment freedom of religious exercise. The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would implement the new policy under the leadership of Sec. Tom Price, a physician who as a Member of Congress promoted legislation to advance religious freedom.
Narcissism in Healthcare
I was looking up some information on the American Association for Physician Leadership website when an article caught my eye: “Are You a Narcissist?” I hadn’t decided what I was going to blog about this month; not surprisingly, narcissism was not on the list of things I was considering. But the article piqued my interest, so I clicked on the link and read the entire thing. There was even a quiz I could use to find out if I am a narcissist. You will be relieved to know I “passed” the quiz with a non-narcissist score! That was reassuring, but I was curious as to why this article interested me so much.
Christian Doctor’s Digest – May 2017
The May 2017 issue of Christian Doctor’s Digest all about empowering you to make an impact in your community and our world for Christ. Dennis Rainey shares about resources and methods to help your teens remain pure in our sexually saturated culture. Participants in a CMDA Marriage Enrichment Weekend conference share about the ways it helped them make their marriages stronger. Bert Jones and Dr. David Stevens share from their book Servant Leadership about how to lead like Christ did, as a servant to all.
Artificial Wombs and Modern Incubators
Sometimes what seems like science fiction can actually be science fact, and sometimes new technologies can have the potential for both good and bad uses. So-called “dual-use technology” is most often thought of in connection with potential military as well as civilian use, e.g., weaponized forms of viruses or bacteria vs. using such altered pathogens for vaccine development.
Linking healthcare access to conscience freedoms, Christian Medical Association hails Presidential Executive Order
Washington, D.C., May 4, 2017–Citing the link between patient access to healthcare and conscience freedom for health professionals, the 18,000-member Christian Medical Association (CMA, www.cmda.org) today expressed gratitude for President Trump’s executive order that begins to provide stronger protections against discrimination against individuals and organizations of faith.
“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”
“Can I ethically immunize my kids with a vaccine that has been produced using cells from an aborted baby?” The caller asking the question seemed to be sincere. During Stand to Reason’s call-in podcast, the questions vary widely—the nature of God, evangelism, ethics—and host Greg Koukl does a great job thinking on his feet and applying a biblical worldview.
The Hyde Amendment’s Effect on Human-Trafficking Victims
Americans overwhelmingly oppose opening public coffers to the abortion industry.