A Return To A Sanctity Of Life Ethic In Medical Care

Light traffic will not go quietly into the night. But we do need people willing to come forward and be soldiers in the final is family policy not fixed with family president John Weston this week were pleased to bring you part two of the discussion with Dr. Marty McCaffery, a clinical professor in neonatal and perinatal medicine at UNC Chapel Hill and one of North Carolina's leading medical voices calling for a return to a sanctity of life ethic and medical care, Dr. McCaffrey, welcome back pain with policy matters is great to have you on the show again. John, thanks very much for having me in it.

It's wonderful. It's great to be here. Dr. McCaffrey noted bioethicist Wesley J Smith is called the Charlie guard situation a case of quote medical aggression. Do you think that that's an accurate representation of the situation and others like it, or do you think it's just kind of being victims of system that is bankrupt and out of control. I think there's two forces at work here so I think social engineers at the policy type level who are not providers living in the trenches with patients like this or patients.

Not quite that sacred truth have never touched a patient in their lives are able to sit in cubbyholes or in offices and think about best policy for the public at large without feeling any of the potential impact that comes from what you have to deal with on a very personal level, i.e. the physicians and nurses, respiratory therapist, the other providers or indigenous care. So I think what happens is that that administrative level. I think there is an aggression that I would not call medical aggression, but I think it's an aggressive socialism. I think it is an ideology that says that this is the best system.

This is the way to go but by golly, the reality is that we don't have money to give everything to everybody. And so we have to make some serious decisions here, I think, in conjunction with that is off of a radical transformation that's occurred in bioethics so I think that battle that I alluded to earlier of the 60s, 70s, maybe into the 80s where Paul Ramsey's of the world.

The Gilbert Millie Anders of the world have been doing battle with the folks like Joseph Fletcher and Peter Singer and Daniel Callahan. I think that the postmodern bioethicist really have one. That battle in that day. I'm hoping we can get back to a system that will provide real patient centered bioethical care and I want to paint bioethicist is monolithic either. I know some good bioethicist who really still respect the sanctity of life, but they are not the majority.

And so I think this is push poll that goes on John between the realities of the finances of an ideology of socialism, but I think there's also a bioethical mantra that has been ingrained in medical education, nursing, education, healthcare providers, and now, which is really infected the public at large. That is totally unhooked from the sanctity of life is totally relativistic and is totally steep in the Georgetown mantra of principles which are autonomy, beneficence, justice and non-malfeasance, which in and of themselves are excellent principles, but when unhooked from the sanctity of life become opportunities to justify outcomes and certainly people running socialist systems need to justify outcomes because they don't have the money to support care for everybody. So what happens is that autonomy and beneficence now become what Charlie can exercise authority for himself. His parents are overriding his autonomy, beneficence says based on all the best medical evidence that we have, but he cannot have a productive life and is going to live a life of suffering, so we will step in. Under the mantra of current bioethics and say this is the right thing to do. You know, if you don't care used to refer to the futility of the care we were rendering because it couldn't continue life and it was not to be successful in terms of promoting the physiology of what we define as life or brain functioning heart beating me.

Now the futility of futile care refers to a judgment on the life that we would preserve because in fact futile care works we can keep the patient alive. But the question then becomes, you judge the life worth keeping alive in it and I think this is really the tyranny of bioethics at this point, unhooked, and relativistic bioethics has free reign to basically develop any type of system that it wants a justification for any system that wants based on these principles, which really have no grounding in any foundation, which formally was the sanctity of life. McCaffrey account of hope, can you provide to our listeners, especially those who may be facing a difficult diagnosis for a young child and adult parent, or even listeners who may be considering getting into the medical profession, but are concerned about the real loss of a sense of sanctity of human life and human dignity.

What kind of words of hope, can you provide to them. That may be an encouragement community think there is hope in the battlefield I think is kinda laid out in terms we need to go unified abortion as much as you can. You need to get transparency out for noninvasive prenatal testing you need to and dehydrating cognitively impaired missing ball. You need to put an end to assisted suicide. You need to restore hospice to its original mission limit referred to an area that I've been very actively engaged in John and that we've mentioned a lot about the babies of trisomy 13 and 18 and we also mention down syndrome trisomy 21 trisomy 21 for babies were born alive now with trisomy 21. Those children are now offered all of the same medical opportunities to medical interventions pretty much that any other child is offered.

That was not the case. Even 30 years ago, even 30 to 40 years ago there were great disparities in what was being offered in terms of long-term care.

There were still recommendations back into the 80s and 90s that children with down syndrome institutionalized and we realize now that these are just precious souls are really maybe offer us the opportunity to save our humanity.

If were willing to accept them and overcome our own imperfections and looking at them and accept them as critical parts of our society.

I think what you're seeing with trisomy 13 and 18 is been turbocharged compared to what happened with trisomy 21.

And it's not been so much on the healthcare provider side, but you are seeing families and parents being motivated and organized in a way that didn't exist 40 or 50 years ago and that's really through social media. Currently working with in a number of us as physicians are doing this, we have found a niche in terms of trying to support and help these families who were dealing with individuals with a variety of conditions, not just children's but adults as well with with potentially life limiting conditions that opens up a huge opportunity to start working and partnering with families and a little bit to the to the sadness of some physicians and some administrators and policy type folks who really would like to rather perpetuate more of a very different type of bioethics. I think there is lots of opportunity out there for us to try and organize and get people to really understand how special and important.

These individuals can be to us.

I think it is a will hate to use the term get overdramatic, but it is a bit of a war. I mean if it's been described by Wesley Smith and Gilbert Millie and her and others as a clash of ethics in terms what's going on in the bioethical landscape over the last 2030 years and I think that's true and think there is a very strong postmodern force that is pursed its way along I met battlefield and really have the upper hand.

But this fight is not over by any means and I think it is vital when we look at these kids in these children and these adults, people who are cognitively impaired people with Alzheimer's. These are all sacred lives and I think we all need to realize that this sort of an opportunity, even if were not theistic or Christian or even even really have a strong religious foundation to realize that a minimum that we all should develop a sense of acknowledged dependence is what some people have called it in terms of how we deal with people in terms of bioethical situations. None of us is getting out of this life alive. John and were all eventually going to need each other in some way shape or form, unless we die very quick sudden death, but many of us will grow older and we are going to have our share of debilitating challenging medical maladies and so this is really our opportunity to try and in form and reform the bonds, which can make us a much stronger and a much better society and I think the word to get gets lost and rarely is mentioned and and and distressingly to me in medicine. At this point is love.

I think that's too personal for some people involved in medicine and and how can you ever bring that up, but I think we have to look at the thing to the of life over individual patients and I think most of us as physicians, we would at night, lying in bed, we would admit that really we do love our patients but we have to start valuing their lives and realize that we can value some lives more than other lives, I think, is there is hope, and I think there are when you look at attitudes towards abortion when you look at the controversies, at least in this country that are reaching over assisted suicide. People are pushing back and that we the sanctity of life ethic will not go quietly into the night, John.

But we do need people willing to come forward and be soldiers in the fight, and I think there are plenty of them out there.

I've been blessed to really work with a number of them in medical schools and encounter not number of them across the country and the day is not over yet. But the fight is is going to be long and we have a long ways to go.

You're listening to policy matters of resource to listen to our radio show online insulin resources that will be a place of persuasion in your community website only alleging that Dr. McCaffrey before we leave. Is there a website or are there a couple of websites that you might direct our listeners to the are particularly interested in this topic or that would like to connect with you or others and to explore the research and information that you put together only stocks yeah sure there are some good sites that are out there. I know I think when people think of bioethics, the go to place a lot of people think of the Hastings Center and I would say that that's at best a mixed bag in terms of the sanctity of life.

Actually Hastings, the founder that was Daniel Callahan who is clearly someone who's a bit more in the relativistic side. I think it's always, I would go there and look at the Hastings Center and see what the current big names in bioethics are thinking and saying.

But then to really trying to an appreciation of the sanctity of life in bioethics. There's at least two places I would go one is that the verb or Institute DEV ER BER Institute and in Charlotte. Charlotte Lozier Institute on LOC I ER.

The other site that I would recommend is the American Academy. I'll recommend to the American Academy of pro-life OBGYN AAP L OG.org. I applaud this is a group of obstetricians and they allow some neonatologist go along, sometimes as well. Is there a baby that they deliver. And it's actually quite a sizable group of folks were really very interested in trying to return safely of life to the practice of Perry mental medicine and then I would also recommend the American College of pediatrics website the ACP. The American Academy of pediatrics like the American Congress of OBGYN are both very mainstream fairly relativistic.

I agree with a number of things.

There's been some great scientific stuff that comes out there and some great innovation for health for moms and babies, but they are not sanctity of life focused sites, but the American College of pediatrics is as well as the American Academy of pro-life OBGYN's. You will thanks for sharing those I and with that Dr. Marty McCaffrey on the thank you so much for being loose on family policy for your tireless efforts not only to provide extraordinary care to some of the smallest and weakest patients that we see, but also to bring attention not only in our state and our nation. But around the world to the dignity and value that we all have those members of the human race. Thank you so much for all that you do and we will continue to pray for your efforts and pray God's blessings on you and your family as well. Thank you so much time. Thank you for the great work that you guys are doing a talented family policy Council is a pleasure to be here with a come back again, thanks so much. We look forward to having you back again, sitting production and to listen to a radio show online resources and information about issues important to families in North Carolina go to my website@family.org and follow us on Twitter and Facebook