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| Introduction | |
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| Fundamentals | |
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| From a philosophical perspective, what is the value of human life? | |
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| Why do Catholics value human life so highly? | |
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| What is the meaning of suffering from a Christian perspective? | |
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| What does it mean to say that Catholics must follow their consciences? | |
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| Are Catholics always obliged to follow Church teaching? | |
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| If a Catholic in ignorance of Church teaching does something contrary to that teaching, such as using in vitro fertilization, does he or she sin? | |
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| What kinds of actions are intrinsically evil? | |
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| What does it mean to say that an action is a matter of "prudential judgment"? | |
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| What is the principle of double effect? | |
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| Beginning-of-Life Issues | |
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| Why is abortion wrong? | |
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| Since an early embryo can split into twins, is an embryo really an individual? Before the brain develops, is an embryo really rational? | |
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| Since an embryo cannot experience pain until several weeks into the pregnancy, would abortion be moral before that time? | |
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| Would abortion to relieve the mental distress of a pregnant woman be moral? | |
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| Is it moral to have an abortion if the unborn child is handicapped? | |
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| Is it immoral to use "excess" embryos for research? | |
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| Which ways of treating ectopic pregnancies are moral? | |
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| Is it ever morally permissible to induce labor prematurely? | |
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| Reproductive Technologies | |
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| Which reproductive technologies are moral? | |
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| Is cloning wrong? | |
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| Is it moral to have a baby in order to provide for the medical needs of an already existing child? | |
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| Is it morally permissible to "adopt" a frozen embryo? | |
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| Is it moral to attempt to have a child when genetic factors make it likely that the child may be mentally or physically handicapped? | |
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| Is it moral to try to select the sex of one's baby? | |
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| Are ovarian transplants morally permissible? | |
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| Contraception, Sterilization and Natural Family Planning | |
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| Why does the Church teach that contraception is intrinsically immoral? | |
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| Isn't Natural Family Planning just another form of contraception? | |
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| If contraception is intrinsically evil, why does the Church permit women to take contraceptives for medical purposes? | |
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| Is it moral for spouses to use a condom if one of them has the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)? | |
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| Is it morally permissible to have sex with a contracepting spouse? | |
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| Is it moral to use contraceptives as post-rape treatment? | |
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| Should parents have their daughters receive the vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV)? | |
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| Would it be moral to put a mentally handicapped woman on a contraceptive or have her sterilized if she is at risk of being sexually abused? | |
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| Is it morally permissible for a woman to be sterilized if her uterus is so damaged that she could not get through a pregnancy safely? | |
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| Are couples who have been sterilized morally obliged to get a reversal? | |
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| End-of-Life Issues | |
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| What is euthanasia? | |
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| Is there an ethical difference between active euthanasia (intending the death of the patient by some act) and passive euthanasia (intending the death of the patient by some omission)? | |
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| Is it always wrong to let someone die? | |
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| Is life always a good, even when it involves great suffering? | |
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| What is the Christian view of the relationship of the soul to the body, and how does it influence the moral evaluation of end-of-life treatments? | |
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| What is the difference between ordinary means and extraordinary means of preserving life? | |
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| Should food and water be provided for patients in a persistent vegetative state? | |
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| How should one respond to the request "Will you help me die?" | |
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| Are advance directives helpful? | |
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| Why does the determination of death matter? | |
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| What is "brain death"? Does the Church approve of using neurological criteria to determine death? | |
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| What is the "non-heart-beating donor" procedure for obtaining organs? Is it morally acceptable? | |
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| Do hospital futility policies accord with Catholic morality? | |
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| What is the sacrament of the sick? When should Catholics have recourse to it? | |
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| Cooperation With Evil | |
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| Sometimes health care professionals are asked to perform actions that may make them guilty of cooperating with the evil actions of others, such as assisting in abortion. How do these workers know when they must refuse to do certain things? | |
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| Is it moral for a Catholic pharmacist to fill prescriptions for contraceptives? Is it moral for a Catholic nurse to give Depo-Provera shots? | |
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| What is scandal? In the practice of medicine, what kind of behavior causes scandal? | |
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| Is it moral to use vaccines that have been produced from aborted fetuses? | |
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| Is it morally acceptable to separate conjoined twins? | |
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| Is it moral to have a healthy breast removed because of a genetic propensity to breast cancer? | |
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| What if a patient cannot be persuaded to do what is morally correct? | |
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| Does a physician need to respect the decision of a Jehovah's Witness to refuse a blood transfusion? | |
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| What steps should a Catholic working at a Catholic hospital take in the face of evidence that the hospital or those working there are engaging in practices recognized by the Church as incompatible with true human dignity? | |
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| The Ten Commandments for Health Care Professionals and Patients 160 | |
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| Helpful Resources | |
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| Notes | |
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| Index | |