Contemporary Controversies in Catholic Bioethics

This volume comprises various viewpoints representing a Catholic perspective on contemporary practices in medicine and biomedical research. The Roman Catholic Church has had a significant impact upon the formulation and application of moral values and principles to a wide range of controversial issues in bioethics. Catholic leaders, theologians, and bioethicists have elucidated and marshaled arguments to support the Church's definitive positions on several bioethical issues, such as abortion, euthanasia, and reproductive cloning. Not all bioethical issues, however, have been definitively addressed by Catholic authorities, and some Church teachings allow for differing applications in diverse circumstances. Moreover, as new biomedical technologies emerge, Church authorities rely on experts in science, medicine, philosophy, theology, law, and other disciplines to advise them. Such experts continue to debate issues related to reproduction, genetics, end-of-life care, and health care policy. This volume will be a valuable resource for scholars in bioethics or Catholic studies, who will benefit from the nuanced arguments offered based on the latest research. This volume is also instructive for students entering the field to become aware of the founding philosophical and theological principles informing the Catholic bioethical worldview.

Offers a comprehensive and nuanced treatment of a wide range of bioethical issues debated by Catholic scholars

Contributors.- Introduction; Jason T. Eberl.- Part I Moral Status of Human Embryos and Fetuses.- Introduction.- The Ontological Status of Pre-implantation Embryos; John R. Meyer.- The Potential of Potentiality Arguments; David Hershenov and Rose Hershenov.- The Moral Status of Anencephalic Homo sapiens; Charles C. Camosy.- Anencephaly and Human Dignity in the Clinical Context: Re-Conceptualizing Viability and Proportionate Reasoning; John Paul Slosar, Mark Repenshek, Elliott Louis Bedford and Emily Trancik.- Part II Issues with Certain Lifesaving Interventions.- Introduction.- Saving the Savable Mother: Why the Physician is Not Culpable of (Morally) Directly Killing; William F. Murphy, Jr. and Martin Rhonheimer.- Moral Methodology in Maternal-Fetal Conflicts; Benedict M. Guevin, O.S.B.- Is It Ethically Permissible to Separate Conjoined Twins? Murder, Mutilation, and Consent; Christopher Kaczor.- Vital Conflicts, Bodily Respect, and Conjoined Twins: Are We Asking the Right Questions?; Helen Watt.- Embryo Adoption Before and After Dignitas personae: Defending an Argument of Limited Permissibility; Sarah-Vaughan Brakman and Darlene Fozard Weaver.- Establishing the Moral Object of Heterologous and Homologous Embryo Transfe; Catherine Althaus.- Part III Contraception.- Introduction.- Moral Certitude in the Use of Levonorgestrel for the Treatment of Sexual Assault Survivors; Peter J. Cataldo.- Evaluation of the Mechanism of Action of Anti-Fertility Treatment in Cases of Sexual Assault: Moral Certitude and Human Acts; Thomas J. Davis, Jr.- Use of a Condom to Prevent HIV among Married Couples; Christopher Tollefsen.- The Disease-Preventative Use of Condoms:Why it is not Forbidden According to Catholic Doctrine; William F. Murphy, Jr.- Part IV Genethics.- Introduction.- Openness, with Caution and Suspicion, about Human Enhancement; James F. Keenan, S.J.- Philosophical Anthropology, Ethics, and Human Enhancement; Jason T. Eberl.- The Moral Status of Human Embryos and Other Possible Sources of Stem Cells; Lawrence Masek.- The Ethical Problems of Altered Nuclear Transfer and Human-Animal Chimeras: We Can Find a Better Way; John F. Morris.- Part V Issues at the End of Human Life.- Introduction.- Catholic Controversy over the Rationale for the Determination of Death by Neurological Criteria; David Albert Jones.- Defining Death with Aristotle and Aquinas; Kevin L. Flannery, S.J.- On the Provision of Medical Nutrition and Hydration; Janis (John) T. Ozoli s.- A Catholic Approach to Withholding Medically Provided Food and Water; Joseph Boyle .- Part VI Organ Donation.- Introduction.- Is Presumed Consent a Morally Permissible Policy for Organ Donation?; James Delaney.- A Catholic Moral Analysis of Legislative Defaults in Organ Donation; Nicanor Pier Giorgio Austriaco, O.P.- Cardiac Death, Reversibility, and Evidence for Death; Stephen Napier.- A Catholic Perspective on Organ Donation after Cardiac Death; Peter A. Clark, S.J.- Part VII Healthcare Law and Policy.- Introduction.- Complicity of Catholic Healthcare Institutions with Immoral Laws; Gerard Magill.- Catholic Institutions within a Democratic Polity: A Potential Procrustean Bed; Margaret Monahan Hogan.- Bioethics and Catholic Politicians: Who Is a Person?; Michael A. Fragoso and O. Carter Snead.- Addressing Unjust Laws without Complicity: Selective Bans versus Regulation; Helen Watt.- Conflicts of Conscience for Catholic Healthcare Professionals; Mark S. Latkovic.- Conscientious Objection for Catholic Healthcare Professionals; Thomas A. Cavanaugh.- Index.