Catholic Medical Association Research Articles

The POLST paradigm and form:Facts and analysis.

This white paper, prepared by a working group of the Catholic Medical Association, provides a commentary on a new type of end-of-life document called a POLST form (Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment) as well as on its model (or "paradigm") for implementation across the United States. After an introductory section reviewing the origin, goals, and standard defenses of the POLST paradigm and form, the paper offers a critical analysis of POLST, including an analysis of the risks that POLST poses to sound clinical and ethical decision-making. The paper ends with several recommendations to help Catholic healthcare professionals and institutions better address the challenges of end-of-life care with alternatives to POLST.

Health Care Reform and the Catholic Perspective: The Catholic Medical Association Position.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is a U.S. federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. It is the principal health-care reform legislation of the 111th U.S. Congress. It reforms certain aspects of the private health insurance industry and public health insurance programs, increases insurance coverage of preexisting conditions, expands access to insurance to over thirty million Americans, and increases projected national medical spending while lowering projected Medicare spending. It is expected that each of these promises has or will be broken. The Catholic Medical Association, representing Catholic physicians as well as other concerned Catholic health-care professionals, has and will continue to focus on the harm that such a vast, vague legislation brings to the task of ongoing moral and ethical delivery of health care.

Baltimore Symposium.

Abstract Since my arrival as archbishop of Baltimore in 2007, I have witnessed on countless occasions the generous and faithful witness of the members of the Baltimore Guild of the Catholic Medical Association (BG-CMA).

The 80th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association October 6–8, 2011 Poster Session

The 80th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association October 6–8, 2011 Poster Session

The 79th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association October 28–30, 2010 Poster Session

The 79th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association October 28–30, 2010 Poster Session

Homily at the White Mass for Catholic Doctors, Nurses, and Medical Personnel February 15, 2010

Abstract The new Kansas City chapter of the Catholic Medical Association arranged with the help of the Order of Malta a commemorative Mass of Our Lady of Lourdes at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City, Missouri, in February this year. Concelebrants included Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann and retired Archbishop James P. Keleher of Kansas City, Kansas; and Bishop Robert W. Finn and retired Bishop Raymond J. Boland of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Missouri.

Your Conscience, Your Right: A History of Efforts to Violate Pro-Life Medical Conscience, and the Laws that Stand in the Way

Attacks on the conscience rights of health-care professionals are increasing. This stems from the seven stages of liberal legal activism which begins with the assertion that a specific (immoral) activity should not be illegal and ends with the condemnation as criminals of those who disagree with the immoral activity. The history of legal activism in the United States with regard to abortion is traced, including attempts to force Catholic hospitals to perform abortions and sterilizations. These include challenges on the national and state levels with conscience-protection legislation enacted both in Congress and in state legislatures. However, these laws provide no explicit means by which a medical professional or institution may seek redress for a violation of their conscience. This has led to recent failures of conscience protection, such as when Catholic Charities in New York was forced to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives and a Catholic nurse was forced to assist in a twenty-two-week-old dismemberment abortion. The conscience protection regulations issued near the end of President Bush's second term would be helpful in ensuring greater education about and adherence to the laws and respect for conscience rights, but the Obama Administration has proposed rescinding the Bush Administration regulations. Catholic Medical Association members must stand and defend their conscience rights in this time or risk the loss of those rights in the near future. The Alliance Defense Fund and its allies are ready to assist medical students, professionals, and institutions who are willing to stand in this gap and refuse to sacrifice their consciences to the anti-choice agenda being promoted by those who call themselves “pro-choice.”

The 78th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association: Poster Session

Restricted accessAbstractFirst published online November 1, 2009The 78th Annual Educational Conference of the Catholic Medical Association: Poster SessionVolume 76, Issue 4https://doi.org/10.1179/002436309803889089

Correction.

There was an error in the last paragraph of Clare Walker's letter (August 5) on the RCN policy change to a neutral position on assisted suicide. Catholic Nursing Association should have read Catholic Medical Association.

A Catholic Guide to Ethical Clinical Research: The Catholic Medical Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center

A Catholic Guide to Ethical Clinical Research: The Catholic Medical Association and the National Catholic Bioethics Center

The Catholic Medical Association and the Magisterium

Abstract The Catholic Medical Association is dedicated to all physicians who in their medical practices recognize the irreducible value of every human life as made in the image and likeness of God, including the born, the unborn, and the terminally ill. As Catholic physicians, we will accept as the cornerstone of bioethics the sacred and certain teachings of the Magisterium of the Church.

Official CMA Correspondence

Abstract On November 7, 2007, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) Committee on Ethics released an opinion, The Limits of Conscientious Refusal in Reproductive Medicine—an unprecedented attack on the conscience rights of practicing physicians. After consultation with its membership and other leading national organizations, the Catholic Medical Association responded in the letter to ACOG Board President Kenneth Noller, M.D., reprinted below.

Prevention of Sexual Abuse Through Educational Programs Directed Toward Children

A Catholic Medical Association (CMA) Task Force issued a report in October 2006 on the sexual abuse of children and its prevention1 in response to initiatives by Catholic dioceses across the country, which were reeling from abuse scandals and have been seeking to improve their sexual abuse–prevention efforts. This report argued strongly against what it called “child-empowerment programs” aimed at preventing sexual abuse. It argued that these programs were “ineffective at preventing sexual abuse” and “inconsistent with the science of emotional, cognitive, neurobiological and moral development of the child.” This report reiterated a number of arguments that have been raised over 2 decades against classroom-based prevention education by various critics.2–5 However, the research evidence and the available meta-analytic reviews do not give much support to these criticisms,6,7 and the reappearance of these arguments in a high-profile public policy context merit discussion and rebuttal. The programs of concern to the CMA and others are programs that instruct children about sexual abuse and sexual victimization and try to impart a variety of messages to children (and their parents) about how to identify abuse, how to react when approached, and what to do in the aftermath of abuse. These programs are typically delivered in school settings or other youth service environments. They typically have components directed toward parents, teachers, and youth service staff, as well. Well-known examples of such programs are “Talking About Touching” from the Seattle-based Committee for Children and the Child Assault Prevention program used statewide in New Jersey. Although the CMA report refers to these as “empowerment” programs, they have a variety of philosophies. I will refer to them as “school-based prevention-education programs” or “prevention programs,” for short, because this is how they are referred to in the literature more frequently than as … Address correspondence to David Finkelhor, PhD, Crimes Against Children Research Center, Family Research Laboratory, Department of Sociology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824. E-mail: david.finkelhor{at}unh.edu

Checklist for Catholic Hospitals: Milwaukee Guild of the Catholic Medical Association

Checklist for Catholic Hospitals: Milwaukee Guild of the Catholic Medical Association

Executive Summary of: To Prevent and to Protect: Report of the Task Force of the Catholic Medical Association on the Sexual Abuse of Children and Its Prevention

Executive Summary of: To Prevent and to Protect: Report of the Task Force of the Catholic Medical Association on the Sexual Abuse of Children and Its Prevention

An Open Letter to the Physicians of the Catholic Medical Association

An Open Letter to the Physicians of the Catholic Medical Association

Homosexuality and Hope: The Statement of the Catholic Medical Association

Homosexuality and Hope: The Statement of the Catholic Medical Association

Position Statement of the Catholic Medical Association concerning Psychiatric Care of the Clergy

Position Statement of the Catholic Medical Association concerning Psychiatric Care of the Clergy

Human cloning: position paper of the Catholic Medical Association.

Human cloning: position paper of the Catholic Medical Association.