October 15, 2008

Guest: Jennifer Miller, Executive Director of Bioethics International
Featured Saint of the Day: St. Theresa of Avila
Congratulations to Today's Winner of "The Pirates who Don't Do Anything, A Veggie Tale Movie": Jim Hawkins

Today Deacon Rick and Jenny spoke with Jennifer Miller, the Executive Director of Bioethics International, a non-profit organization aimed toward empowering responsible ethical decisions in the medical field. Jennifer began her journey toward Bioethics as Physicist. She was invited to Rome to attend a conference entitled, "Stem Cell Dilemma: for the Good of All Mankind." This gave rise to questions about ethical decisions in the medical profession. She later decided to take one year off from Physics to study Ethics. This year turned into many years and has grown into a great zeal for bioethics.

Now Jennifer travels around the country to train doctors and hospital staff on how to make ethical medical decisions. Her particular focus is disaster preparedness. A situation that she is trying to prepare hospitals for is the possibility of an influenza pandemic in America. The flu that they are concerned about is one that exists in birds. The medical profession is monitoring it to guard against it mutating into something that will become communicable. This flu takes root on a cyclical basis. The flu itself attacks the lungs to a point where those suffering from it need to be put on a ventilator to help cure them. The problem is that there are not enough ventilators in America. The question from that problem is if there are not enough ventilators, who do you allocate them to when crisis hits?

Triage is a medical term for people who take into consideration a person's chance of survival with their need for the medication. For this job there is a need for balance between the common good of the community and the dignity of the individual person. It is, in fact, a search to discover the truth of human dignity. There is a battle between deciding who receives care in light of Ethics against making decisions in light of Social Goods. To focus on Social Goods a person's dignity relies upon the level of their contribution to society. This strips a person of their God-given, fundamental dignity. The goal of Bioethics International is to help those in the medical profession to discover what human dignity is, so that they might be able to make tough decisions through sound ethical formation.

For more information or to donate to this cause you can go to Bioethics International's Website:
www.bioethicsinternational.org