Why is Catholic bioethics important?
Patients and their families expect that their religious beliefs and values will be respected whatever the faith of the health care professionals responsible for their care. A large number of Canadians profess to be Catholic: there were 12.2 million Roman Catholics in Canada at the time of the 1991 census.5 Many hospitals and institutions in this country have a Catholic orientation and mission statement. It is important for clinicians who work in such settings to be aware of the policies that flow from such a mission. Clinicians should be aware of the religious convictions of their patients and the possibility that some procedures they might suggest could seriously violate the patient’s beliefs and lead to problems of conscience. So too, patients should not expect physicians to engage in practices that they consider to be morally unacceptable.
Related Questions
- If the Catholic Church really honors the Bible as the holy Word of God--if she really wants her members to become familiar with its truth--why in times past did she confiscate and burn so many Bibles?
- Why is the Catholic Church opposed to birth control? Where in the Bible is birth control condemned as being contrary to the Will of God?
- Do Catholic School Teachers pay fed with-holding, state and fica taxes??????
