Coronavirus
You Could Help Reverse an Abortion!
Like me, you probably entered the medical field because you wanted to help people who were in significant need, facing challenges, and for whom you could have a substantial positive impact. You may have gone in with the goal to save lives. In healthcare, we have the privilege of helping people at some of their most vulnerable points, while also being a light shining into their darkness. For many women, that moment arrives for them after they have taken mifepristone (RU-486) with the intention of ending their pregnancy.
Read MoreFederal Court Strikes Down Transgender Mandate, Protects Medical Judgment and Conscience
A federal court has provided protections for physicians committed to following medical evidence and conscience convictions regarding the transgender and gender-questioning patients for whom they care.
Read MorePolicy Versus Politics: A Retrospect and Prognosis
A physician member of CMDA recently asked me for a perspective on the tragic temporary takeover of the U.S. Capitol and the role of politicians before and after that tumultuous event. The physician’s email began, “I’m so saddened by this incident and so appalled….”
I’ve been asked to share the response to that physician more widely, so my edited response is below, followed by some thoughts on public policy ministry, the last four years and the next four years.
Read MoreUpside-Down-and-Backwards: Reflection and Challenge on Inauguration Day
My grandfather was a deeply gracious man. A Southern gentleman to the core and pastor of a large church, he was loving and compassionate toward everyone he met, and he was also uniquely talented at making each and every person with whom he interacted feel loved and heard. He truly cared, and he had an amazing ability to communicate the depth of that concern. In the 40 years I knew him, I never heard him raise his voice or speak a harsh word, with one dramatic exception. So it’s no surprise that the story of Granddaddy, hospitalized and delirious after major surgery, raising his voice at Gran has gone down in family lore. His agitation at her that day was so great, and so perplexing. He was intensely frustrated with her driving, despite the fact that he been in the hospital and nowhere near a car for days. He finally burst out, in his resonant Southern voice, “You insist on driving upside down and backwards just to irritate me!” Needless to say, it did not ease his distress when the entire family burst into laughter. But some things are just so funny you can’t control yourself.
Read MoreNavigating Vaccine Ethics
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).
Read MoreWhat if Christians Led the Way Out of This? – Redefining our Freedom According to the Cross
“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free…You…were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself…’” (Galatians 5:1a,13-14, NIV 1984).
Read MoreFinding Precedent, Perspective and Our Place in the “Unprecedented”
Renowned British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge once said: “All news is nothing more than new people experiencing old things.” Over the last weeks accumulating into months, the word “unprecedented” has quickly become a favorite and frequently used description of the COVID-19 times we are living in.
Read MoreAn Approach to Outpatient Screening, Treatment, and Community Health Outreach during the Coronavirus Epidemic in New York City
Beacon Christian Community Health Center (www.beaconcchc.com), in conjunction with personnel from South Korea and Europe, created a first-of-its-kind comprehensive outpatient protocol at the start of the height of COVID-19 cases in New York City.
Read MoreThe Coronavirus Show Us Who We Really Are
Today, I’m writing with a reflection in a small effort to help us profit from this trying time. There are many lessons we could take away, but here’s one that’s smacking me in the face.
Read MoreChristian Healthcare Professionals and Coronavirus: A Global Ministry During a Global Pandemic
Since the start of 2020, our world has seen a viral pandemic sweep through and ravage countries and nations. COVID-19 and its medical sequelae has uprooted and deeply impacted mankind, regardless of the assembly of the human race—the young and the elderly, the weak and the strong, the rich and the poor. Many are speaking out and also searching for answers amidst what some people fear as God’s judgment on His people.
Read MoreBe Prepared. Not Scared.
As a board-certified family physician and hospital medical director with over 25 years experience in emergency, hospital and nutritional medicine, I want to encourage you to do everything you can to stay as healthy as possible during this devastating epidemic.
As the U.S., state and local governments and healthcare professionals labor tirelessly in compassionate and effective efforts to protect American citizens from the spreading COVID-19 Coronavirus, governments in certain countries instead are reportedly exposing persecuted religious groups to the threat.
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