Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, our society has had to adapt to unprecedented restrictions and limitations. During this trying time, it has been difficult to find points of optimism. The rapid development of vaccine candidates utilizing varied techniques remains encouraging.
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The safety and advisability of vaccinating our children has become a hot topic, and one of great importance. This handout was prepared to present reliable information, answer questions, provide encouragement, and perhaps spark more Christian enthusiasm for medical science drawn from history.
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Bristol, Tenn.—December 2, 2020— The 20,000-member Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based healthcare organization, today announced the release of a joint statement showing physician support of ethical vaccines. CMDA joins in this statement with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association.
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“Can I ethically immunize my kids with a vaccine that has been produced using cells from an aborted baby?” The caller asking the question seemed to be sincere. During Stand to Reason’s call-in podcast, the questions vary widely—the nature of God, evangelism, ethics—and host Greg Koukl does a great job thinking on his feet and applying a biblical worldview.
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Worldwide, only clean water has saved more lives than vaccines. Wild smallpox has been eliminated, and polio nearly so. Twelve other major diseases that were the scourge of mankind have been controlled. So why would anyone not want to control disease? Dr. Amy Givler delves into this question in this week’s blog post on The Point.
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I love vaccines. To those of you who have read my other articles on the subject (available here and here), this comes as no surprise. But, you may rightly say, “love” is an awfully strong word. Shouldn’t I only love people, not things?
I love vaccines because I love people. Millions of people are alive today only because they were vaccinated. Who are these people? Nobody knows, because the vaccine kept them from getting sick and dying. One of them could very well be me. Or you.
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Friday, March 15 is Match Day for 2019. The graduate medical education community represent the day when the National Resident Matching Program or NRMP releases results to applicants seeking residency and fellowship training positions in the United States.
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Reginald Finger, MD, MPH received the Doctor of Medicine degree in 1981 and a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology in 1983 from the University of Washington in Seattle. For much of his career, Dr. Finger has worked in disease prevention and health promotion in state and local health departments. Dr. Finger has been a CMDA member since 2003.
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CMDA Senior Vice President for Bioethics and Public Policy Dr. Jeff Barrows and I recently wrote a piece for The Public Discourse, “Is Receiving the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Ethical?” that suggested principles to consider as we navigate ethical issues related to COVID-19 vaccines. I’ve included brief highlights below; more from the original article and also new observations will be published in an upcoming edition of CMDA Today (previously known as Today’s Christian Doctor).
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In the spring 2017 edition of Today’s Christian Doctor, we examine the foundations of professionalism in healthcare. Other topics include a new program for neurologists, vaccines, fully surrendering to God and more.
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Few of us trained to treat sick communities and continents. Unfortunately, that is our task during a pandemic. The origin of the word comes from the Greek pandemos, where pan means everyone and demos means population. Pandemics confront us with not just one sick individual but with hundreds of thousands of ill patients. The responsible pathogen overwhelms both individual immune systems and community healthcare systems. The toll is individual and collective.
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Does having your child vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella morally link you to an abortion performed 42 years ago? Some patients think so, but is this perspective reasonable?
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Ethical considerations should have a priority place in science and medicine. Promoting sound bioethics promotes confidence in doctors and scientists and their work, among peers, the public and policymakers. This is certainly seen in the recent ethically-guided decisions around federal funding of research with fetal tissue from elective abortions. Ethical guardrails help focus precious research funds on projects with best chance of success and benefit for all. Even in a crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, illumination of the ethical vs. unethical proposals can educate and serve to focus attention and resources on the paths that will benefit all.
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You see a 68-year-old male with diabetes and hypertension in the office for coughing, body aches and recent loss of taste and smell, whose symptoms started about three days ago. His pulse oximetry is 95 percent, and the lungs are clear. A COVID-19 test is run and comes back positive. He asks what can be done to decrease his risk for going to the hospital or even death. Unfortunately, you tell him, there are no easily accessible outpatient treatments for COVID-19, and you recommend he use over-the-counter treatments to help his symptoms and to let you know if he is getting significantly short of breath. There are times like this when we in the primary care realm can feel helpless or like there’s not much we have to offer for patients. But is this truly the case for COVID-19?
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After 10 weeks of avoiding people, I realize how much I miss them. People, that is. I always thought I disliked crowds, but now I find myself missing crowds also. People bring me pleasure. People are precious.
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We are living in a highly polarized society. Disagreeing opinions have very little overlap, making compromise difficult. People talk more than they hear, and they hear more than they listen. People rally and argue and protest, but they rarely build bridges across the divides. Political candidates represent the extreme ends of their party’s platform, and those in the middle are accused of being weak on issues. Opinions on social media are strongly worded and leave no room for useful discussion. Family members have broken fellowship over the Trump v. Clinton election. Friendships are strained over differing definitions of social distancing. The world we live in is broken, and people are afraid. Fear, in fact, is the most insidious form of brokenness. It penetrates the very marrow of our character and changes our motivations. The values and ideals we hold dear are corrupted by fear such that we no longer act based on what we believe, but rather out of avoidance of what we fear.
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CMDA Today is a full-color, quarterly magazine devoted to today’s issues in healthcare, including inspirational testimonies from fellow Christian healthcare professionals, public policy updates, glimpses into the future of healthcare and examples of how to integrate your faith into your practice.
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Membership Donate Now Position Statements Ethics statements deal with ethical issues. They are drafted by the Ethics Committee of the Board and the final version has to be approved first by the Board of Trustees and then by the House of Representatives representing the CMDA membership. These statements can be based on biblical, scientific, moral…
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It was a heavy burden to bear and my soul was weary. I was accused of malpractice in the death of a three-year-old child I had cared for in the emergency room of our local rural hospital. Although I felt confident I had handled the patient as well as anyone could have, I had not communicated very well with the family. The parents spoke little English and I had no time to explain what even I did not understand as we performed invasive tests which culminated in a code and resuscitation. I arranged a life flight to the referral center and the family rushed off into the night on a six-hour drive to the tertiary care center. Tragically and unexpectedly, the toddler deteriorated and died from a rare disease.
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Bristol, Tenn.—December 2, 2020— The 20,000-member Christian Medical & Dental Associations (CMDA), which is the nation’s largest faith-based healthcare organization, today announced the release of a joint statement showing physician support of ethical vaccines. CMDA joins in this statement with the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American College of Pediatricians and the Catholic Medical Association.
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COVID-19 has brought many challenges to us all—medical, ethical, societal. It has also intensified and sharpened the focus of some ongoing bioethical challenges, especially regarding fetal tissue research and the related topic of abortion-derived cell lines and vaccine production. We looked at both of these issues in the spring of 2020, early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Time for some updates, new information and analysis.
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At age 60, I can pretty much say I will never recommend marijuana to any of my patients. I have far too clear memories of my teenage years, when I knew many friends and family who smoked pot, to their detriment. In high school it wasn’t hard to tell who was using regularly because it interfered with their learning. They seemed slightly disoriented and less aware of what was going on around them.
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As noted in previous essays, a New England Journal of Medicine opinion piece entitled, “Physicians, Not Conscripts — Conscientious Objection in Health Care,” by Affordable Care Act architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and University of Pennsylvania professor Ronit Stahl, advocates for limiting the exercise of conscience objections.
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My fellow saw the patient first and showed me the medical records that came with her, written by the doctor to whom she was first referred. “Patient desires to see a doctor who is a born-again Christian. I believe it is not best for me to manage her case. I will refer her to Dr. ____.” When I sat down in the room with the patient, as my fellow looked on, the husband spoke first, “Before we get started, I need to ask you a question, because it is important to us, ‘Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?’” It was easy to answer, “I certainly have.”
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May 28 – June 6, 2021
An exciting tour filled with culture, biblical teaching, and fellowship. Even if you have been to Greece before, our tour will open new insights into the Apostle Paul and how his ministry got started in Europe.
October 1-10, 2021
An exciting tour filled with culture, biblical teaching, and fellowship. Even if you have been to Greece before, our tour will open new insights into the Apostle Paul and how his ministry got started in Europe.