Catholic Medical Ethics

Many parishioners at St. Thomas More work in many different fields of medicine, and experience daily ethical questions. This channel is intended to  be a source of  reliable information and advice on  Medical Ethics from a Catholic viewpoint. It will include information on local lectures, discussions and events, and links to teaching documents from the Vatican, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese of Raleigh and Catholic Universities and Publishers.

Please email suggestions and comments to Jim Hynes, Director of Elementary and Adult Faith Formation.

Resources for Catholic Teaching on Medical Ethics

'As a gift from God, every human life is sacred from conception to natural death.'

Dignitas Personae (The Dignity of a Person)

An Instruction from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) on ethical issues arising from biomedical research, provides guidance on how to respect human life and human procreation in our heavily scientific age, published in English on December 12, 2008.

Read an article about this document from The Good Steward newsletter

As background to this document, here are several of its precursors:

Donum Vitae - "The Gift of Life" from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1987
Evangelium Vitae - "The Gospel of Life" from Pope John Paul II, 1995
Humanae Vitae - "On the Transmission of Human Life" from Pope Paul VI, 1968

Issues

Human Life and Dignity

Abortion
Aging
Arms Trade
Cloning
Contraception
Disabilities
Death Penalty
End-of-Life issues
Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services - from the US Bishops 
Fetal Research
Health Care Policy
"Life Giving Love in an Age of Technology" - On Fertility Treatments
Natural Family Planning
Reproductive Technolgy
Torture
War
"Women Deserve Better" Campaign

Institutions

Catholic Bioethics NC

National Catholic Bioethics Center
Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University
Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture
Center for Health Care Ethics - St. Louis University
Catholic Health Association
Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care
Guild of Catholic Doctors - England and Wales
Catholic Medical Association - of the USA and Canada
Southern Cross Bioethics Institute - Australia
Institute of Catholic Bioethics - St. Joseph's University, Philadelphia

Articles

Death, Taxes and Catholic Bioethics
The Gospel of Life
Why Bioethics Matters

Medical Ethics - Lectures and Events

None listed

Last Updated: November 17 2011