Conscience and Catholic Health Care

Overview

CATHOLIC PRESS ASSOCIATION BOOK AWARD! - FAITHFUL CITIZENSHIP

"An essential and refreshing read, not just for health care professionals but also for secular policy advocates like myself. The authors open up the theme of conscience and move beyond the notion of conscience as a closed door or a sledge hammer. For example, the communal dimension of conscience was unknown to me; I now see how imagination and the common good are also included in any moral decision. What a treat!" --Sr. Simone Campbell, SSS Executive Director, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice

"This perfectly-timed volume offers the latest theological scholarship on conscience and its personal and social formation, and shows clearly the current complexities in Catholic health care in a pluralist society. Contributors include seasoned and experienced ethicists in Catholic health care as well as senior scholars on conscience. The result is a constructive approach that is nuanced and focused on the do's rather than only the don'ts when it comes to difficult issues surrounding race and health care disparities, physician-assisted suicide and mercy, and sex, gender, and reproductive health care. This will be a go-to resource for scholars, students, clinicians, health care ethicists, and public policy makers interested in conscience and Catholic health care." --Tobias Winright, Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University

Drawn from a two-day symposium at Santa Clara University, Conscience and Catholic Health Care provides a timely and up-to-date assessment of the Catholic understanding of conscience and how it relates to day-to-day issues in Catholic health care. The contributors explore a wide range of topics, including end-of-life care, abortion and sterilization, and the role of Catholic ethics particularly in hospital settings.

With insights from key figures this book will serve as a useful text and reference for medical students and practitioners as well as a resource for ethics boards and chaplains in Catholic hospitals, most especially those merging with secular health institutions.

In addition to the editors, contributors include Ron Hamel, Anne E. Patrick, Roberto Della Oro, Lisa Fullam, Kristin E. Heyer, John J. Paris, M. Patrick Moore, Jr., Cathleen Kaveny, Lawrence J. Nelson, Kevin T. FitzGerald, SJ, Gerald Coleman, Margaret R. McLean, Shawnee M. Daniels-Sykes, and Carol Taylor.

David E. DeCosse is Director of Campus Ethics Programs at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. He is the coeditor with Kristin E. Heyer of Conscience and Catholicism.

Thomas A. Nairn, OFM is Senior Director, Theology and Ethics at the Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA). His edited books include The Seamless Garment: Writings on the Consistent Ethic of Life and The Consistent Ethic of Life: Assessing Its Reception and Relevance.