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About Medicine & Morality
Articles and Archives

WFF's Online Journal on Bioethics and Health Care Issues

Topics on About Medicine & Morality include abortion and "end-of-life" issues, stem cell research, organ donation, withholding of medical treatment or food and water, euthanasia and assisted suicide, that are matters of concern to families and others who care for seriously ill people of every age -- people who are especially at risk in our culture -- people who are precious in the sight of God, despite their fragility or disability -- people who are always entitled to our love, and our informed and intelligent care.

About Reader contributions

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About Medicine and Morality - Articles and Archives

Articles are listed in reverse chronological order; the most recent appearing first.

Bioethics Watch: Should a Pro-Life Person Become a Nurse? — Nancy Valko, RN, Vol. XXIX, No. 2., 30th Anniversary Issue

Brain Death and Catholic Teaching -- by Nancy Valko, RN, Vol. XXIX, Pentecost Season 2014

Bioethics Watch: What Do Pro-lifers Really Do?, Vol. XXVIII, No. 4, Christmastide 2013-2014

Bioethics Watch: Kermit Gosnell: Truths and Repercussions — by Nancy Valko, RN, Michaelmas 2013

Bioethics Watch:  The “Helpful” Doctor and the Power of the Pro-life Message — Nancy Valko, RN, Pentecost 2013

The Contraceptive Superstition -- and the mythology of the sexual revolution — Kenneth D. Whitehead, Lent-Easter 2013

Open Adoption: A Love Story -- by Nancy Valko, RN, Advent-Christmas 2012

"By what right? Are They Not Human Beings?" -- The Human rights case against eugenic birth prevention -- by Rita Joseph, Advent-Christmas 2012

Four Decades after Roe v. Wade - Are anti-life ideas now embedded in our culture? -- by Bebe Kennedy, Michaelmas 2012

Right to Health Care, Duty to Die? -- by Nancy Valko, RN, Michaelmas 2012

Bioethics Watch: Special Needs, Special Gifts -- by Nancy Valko, RN, Lent-Eatertide 2012

“Catholic” Cover and Health-Care Coverage — by Kathryn Jean Lopez, Advent-Christmas 2011

Bioethics Watch: Organ Donation: Crossing the Line: Linking the "right to die" with organ donation has opened a terrible Pandora's Box — by Nancy Valko, RN, Advent-Christmas 2011

Bioethics Watch -- The Dark Heart of Euthanasia: Selling Death - by Nancy Valko, RN, Pentecost 2011

Bioethics Watch -- US Bishops Issue Statement on Assisted Suicide: "To Live Each Day with Dignity" -- by Helen Hull Hitchcock, Pentecost 2011

Bioethics Watch: Many Hospital Ethics Boards out of Touch with the Church — by Ann Carey, Eastertide 2011

Bioethics Watch: Saving Catholic Health Care Ethics — by Nancy Valko, RN, Eastertide 2011

Even in a Petri Dish, Life Merits Protection — by Archbishop Allen Vigneron -- Christmastide 2010

The Pope Paul VI Institute at 25, Celebrating its Magnum Opus — by Sister Renée Mirkes, OSF -- Christmastide 2010

“Called to Eternal Life”: Babies and Rights — by James Schall, SJ -- Christmastide 2010

Prayer for Unborn Life -- Prayer of Pope Benedict XVI, for the Prayer Vigil for Nascent Life, November 27, 2010 -- Christmastide 2010

Bioethics Watch: The Most Amazing Recovery by Nancy Valko, RN -- Michaelmas 2010

Silent Voices by Verity Worthington -- Michaelmas 2010

Bioethics Watch: Suicide — Prevention or Assistance? — by Nancy Valko, RN -- Pentecost 2010

Catechism of the Catholic Church: Euthanasia, Suicide -- Pentecost 2010

Bioethics Watch: Are Food and Water Extraordinary Means? —by E. Christian Brugger and William E. May -- Pentecost 2010

Bioethics Watch: Ethics Committees: Are “Death Panels” Already Here? — by Nancy Valko, RN -- Eastertide 2010

Ten Ideas for Growing a Pro-Life Family — by Mariellen Rechtin — Eastertide 2010

Bioethics Watch: A Nurse’s View of Ethics and Health-Care Legislation — by Nancy Valko, RN, Vol. XXIV, No. 3, Michaelmas 2009

Bioethics Watch: War Against Conscience Right — Nancy Valko, RN, Vol. XXIV, No. 2, Pentecost 2009

WFF Statement: Opposition to Rescinding Provider Conscience Regulation, 73 Fed. Reg. 50274, April 10, 2009

The Dignity of a Person - March 2009 -- By Bishop Thomas Wenski, Diocese of Orlando website

Bioethics Watch: Death and the Organ Donor , Nancy Valko, RN -- Eastertide 2009

The Sarah Palin Effect: The Power of a Mother's Example, by Nancy Valko, RN, Advent-Christmas 2008

Bioethics Watch: Is Palliative Sedation Becoming Another Form of Euthanasia? -- Michaelmas 2008

Bioethics Watch: Was Zack Dunlap’s Recovery a Miracle? -- Pentecost 2008

That Hideous Strength — Recent Unpleasant Reminders by David Alton, Eastertide 2008

Is the World Ready for a Moratorium on Abortion? by Mary Jo Anderson, Eastertide 2008

Abortion and the Death Penalty — Different Subjects, Shared Sentence by Rita Joseph, Eastertide 2008

Slouching Towards Portland by Mary Ellen Bork, Eastertide 2008

Bioethics Watch: Adventures in Pill Land -- by Nancy Valko, RN -- Christmastide 2007

Defending Life God’s Way -- Lessons from Mount Sinai -- Cardinal Justin Rigali, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Pro-Life Committee, presented the keynote address to the Arlington Diocesan Pro-Life Directors Meeting on August 2, 2007., Michaelmas 2007

Bioethics Watch, Whatever Happened to Common Sense at the End of Life? "Withdrawal of treatment, “living wills”, terminal sedation, assisted suicide, organ donation, etc. Currently, it’s virtually impossible to escape all the death talk in the media and elsewhere...." -- Nancy Valko, RN, Michaelmas 2007

Missourians Launch Campaign to Prohibit Human Cloning: Initiative Would Protect Proven Cures and Treatments, Michaelmas 2007

Gobsmacked by Logic: Will pro-lifers succumb to silencing tactics? -- Sheila Liaugminas, Michaelmas 2007

Bioethics Watch: Wordkill — Nancy Valko, RN, Pentecost 2007 Voices

The Abortion Movement Takes Cover — Sheila Gribben Liaugminas, Pentecost 2007 Voices

Life is Worth Living: ARE “BRAIN DEAD” PATIENTS REALLY DEAD?
by Julie Grimstad -- reprint with permission of Julie Grimstead, April 2007

A Dangerous State of Affairs — Rita Joseph [Voices, Christmas 2006 - Epiphany 2007]

Setback in South Dakota — Sheila Gribben Liaugminas [Voices, Christmas 2006 - Epiphany 2007]

Industrialized Human Cloning Looms -- Inside Voices -- Review of Cloning and Embryonic Stem Cell Research amendment before Missouri voters
by Helen Hull Hitchcock (Voices, Michaelmas 2006)

A Choice Battle, Heavyweights in the Heartland Wield New Strategy -- "How did the quiet, sparsely populated, Midwestern Plain state of South Dakota become the frontline of the pro-life movement?" -- by Sheila Liaugminas, (Voices, Michaelmas 2006)

Out of the Greatest Evils... "There are two sets of reasons that militate against aborting children who are conceived through rape or incest. One Set is secular and based on fundamental principles of international human rights law. The other set of reasons is faith-based, relying on our understanding that God's great power and mercy are able to bring good even out of evil" -- by Rita Joseph, (Voices, Michaelmas 2006)

A Clone by any Other Name: Missouri's deceptively worded ballot measure -- By Colleen Carroll Campbell, Reprint from the Weekly Standard, posted on this website 7/5/2006

U.S. Bishops’ Official Laments Latest Women’s Deaths From Ru-486 -- WASHINGTON (March 17, 2006) — Deirdre A. McQuade, spokeswoman for the Pro-Life Secretariat of the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) lamented the deaths of two more women from RU-486 abortions, bringing the total of known maternal fatalities to ten.

“We are deeply saddened by yet another advisory from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that two more women have died from RU-486 abortions.” McQuade said.

Read complete press release by clicking the title.

The Worth of Isaiah -- Debbie Joslin [Lent Easter 2006]

Taking a Stand for Life -- Molly McCann [Lent Easter 2006]

Bioethics Watch: Gonzales vs. Oregon -- A New Lethal Decision?
-- Nancy Valko, RN [Lent Easter 2006]

Is Oocyte Assisted Reprogramming (OAR) A Moral Procedure To Retrieve Embryonic Stem Cells? 
William Burke, M.D., Ph.D., Patrick Pullicino, MD, PhD., and The Rev. Edward J. Richard, MS, DThM, JD
August 15, 2005

A STUDY IN CONTRASTS: THE DEATHS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II AND TERRI SCHIAVO by Nancy Valko, RN -- June 2005

Should We Be Dying to Donate?Bioethics Watch - by Nancy Valko, RN [Eastertide 2005]

What shall we call the new generation? - by Donald DeMarco [Eastertide 2005]

To Dispel the Fear of Founding a Family - by Rita Joseph [Eastertide 2005]

'Dear Father' : What did the saints really write about abortion? -- by Father Edward Richard, MS

Stem Cell Research by Cynthia M. Peterson, M.D., a talk delivered at St. James Catholic Church, Solana Beach, California on October 17, 2004

On the Pope's Statement on Feeding and the "Vegetative" State Comments on Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas, John Paul II [Michaelmas 2004]
by Nancy Valko, RN

"Non-heart beating organ donation" and the "vegetative state" by George Isajiw, M.D. and Nancy Valko, RN

Theory and Consequences - The Case against Premature Induction Deliveries of Babies with Anencephaly and Other "Anomalies Incompatible with Life -- by Nancy Valko, RN [Pentecost 2004]

Science and Vatican agree: Cognitively disabled can recover -- by Susan Brinkman -- This article first appeared in the Catholic Standard and Times May 20, 2004.

Advance "Mis-Directives": Euthanasia in Catholic Hospitals in the United States - by George Isajiw, MD
Presented at the World Congress of Catholic Medical Associations in Seoul, Korea on September 3, 2002, posted April 20, 2004 by permission of Dr. Isajiw

Generation One-Third Dead - ...we cannot take the pro-life conservatism of our young people for granted. ... Generation Next. But if Generation One-Third Dead becomes Generation Pro-Choice, there will be no Generation Next. by Jill Stanek (Eastertide 2004)

Love, Health and Homosexuality - Although self-proclaimed experts in our society tend to characterize any concerns about homosexuality as homophobia and even hate, real love does not require approval of everything a person does but rather a commitment to the true well-being of that person.
by Nancy Valko, RN (Eastertide 2004)

Update on Non-Heart-Beating Organ Donation - Bioethics Watch - by Nancy Valko, RN
On May 23, 2003, the St. Louis Review, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, published an editorial stating that "the NHBD (non-heart-beating organ donation) protocol is cruel and dangerous and does not meet standards of respect for human life" and called for an immediate moratorium on the practice at all St. Louis hospitals "until such time as clearer, objective moral standards of determination of death are enacted" (Christmastide 2003 - Epiphany 2004)

Enforcing the "Right to Die" The Case of Terri Schiavo - Nancy Valko, RN (posted August 20, 2003) [Michaelmas 2003]

America, Baseball and Life - Sheila Gribben Liaugminas [Michaelmas 2003]

Lunch with Planned Parenthood - Sherry Tyree [Michaelmas 2003]

Is "Safe Sex" Really Safe? - Bebe Kennedy [Michaelmas 2003]

Are Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species? - "Slowly but surely, more and more pro-life doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are getting the message that they and their views are unwelcome in today's health care system." - Nancy Valko, RN [Pentecost 2003] (posted May 14, 2003)

Pontifical Academy for Life on Ethics and Biomedical Research Final Statement Following 9th General Assembly the Pontifical Council for Life, Feb. 24-26, 2003.

Futility Policies and the Duty to Die [Lent/Easter 2003] - Nancy Valko, RN

Is Treatment "Irrational"? [Lent/Easter 2003]
Unsigned Editorial that appeared in the St. Louis Review, December 14, 2001

Abortion -exposing the lies [Lent/Easter 2003] review by Virginia Sullivan

11th World Day of the Sick - Pope John Paul II's Message
English version Spanish version

National Sanctity of Human Life Day - President Bush's Proclamation

The Hearing to Save Terri Schiavo's Life - Rus Cooper-Dowda

Protecting Abortion, Forbidding Grief - Nancy Valko, RN [Advent/Christmas 2002]

Why Isn't Homosexuality Considered A Disorder On the Basis of Medical Consequences? reprinted from NARTH website - Kathleen Melonakos, M.A., R.N.

Ethical Implications of Non-Heart-Beating Organ Donation - Nancy Valko, RN [Michaelmas 2002]

Sedated to Death - Nancy Valko, RN [Pentecost 2002]

Coffins or Cribs? - John Wilke [Pentecost 2002]

Katie's Story - Nancy Valko, RN [Lent/Easter 2002]

Online Only January 2002 - A Lethal Evolution - Nancy Valko, RN

June 2001 Edition

Special Report - NCCB revises Ethical and Religious Directives:
JUNE 15 2001 - Bishops vote unanimously to forbid "cooperation" by Catholic hospitals with providers of abortion, euthanasia, sterilization - Helen Hull Hitchcock

Of Living Wills and Buterfly Ballots - Nancy Valko, RN [Pentecost 2001]

May 2001
Respect for the dignity of the dying Pontifical Academy for Life (December 9, 2000)

March 2001
Euthanasia News - Nancy Valko, RN

November 2000
Steven Becker and the Fight for the Soul of Catholic Health Care - Nancy Valko, RN

October 2000
More than 200 attend day-long conference on end-of-life issues held in St. Louis September 9, 2000, and co-sponsored by WFF, Missouri Nurses for Life, St. Louis University School of Nursing, and others. For report, click here: "Pulling the Plug"

September 2000
A Catholic Perspective: Providing Nutrition & Hydration to Patients - Julie Grimstad
Do hospitals give up on severely impaired patients too soon? - Sandy Caspersen and Nancy Valko, RN

August 2000
Bioethics Watch - Nancy Valko, RN

July 2000
Archbishop Rigali's Statement on Assisted Nutrition and Hydration - Archbishop Justin Rigali
The Value of Life and its bearing on three issues of medical ethics - Father Peter Ryan, SJ [Summer 2000]

June 2000
Bioethical Magisterium on Normal Treatment and Ordinary Care - Rev. Edward J. Richard

MAY 2000
Bioethics Watch - Nancy Valko, RN

"FOCA - Abortion out of Control" -- Pages 23-24,Voices Online Edition Fall, 1992 & Winter, 1993:Volume VII, No. 4. VIII, No. 1 --by Nancy Valko

RU486: What are we talking about? -- Pages 5-7 -- Voices, Vol. VII, No. 1 --April 1992

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Topics on About Medicine & Morality include "end-of-life" issues, organ donation, and all matters of concern to families and to all who care for seriously ill people of every age who are especially at risk in our contemporary culture -- people who are precious in the sight of God, despite their fragility or disability -- people who are always entitled to our love, and our informed and intelligent care.

We invite reader suggestions and contributions to About Medicine and Morality. Submissions should be typed, 500 to 1000 words. Favorable consideration will be given to subjects and issues of widest interest to our readers.

Submissions may also be e-mailed. Please include your name, complete address and telephone/fax, and e-mail address.