Posts tagged Professional Guidance
NCBC Joins Amicus Brief in Support of Conscience Rights

VALERIE KLOOSTERMAN, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. METROPOLITAN HOSPITAL, ET AL., Defendants-Appellees. ______________________

  • Kloosterman v. University of Michigan Health System: Physician assistant was terminated for refusing to use “preferred pronouns.” NCBC, Catholic Medical Association, the National Association of Catholic Nurses, USA , et al., filed an amicus brief in support of conscience rights to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and a decision is pending.

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Summary of Triage Principles and Applications for Catholic Health Care Organizations

Triage protocols can be ethically appropriate when a genuine crisis situation arises, the demand for resources (e.g., space, staff, and equipment) surpasses availability, and other reasonable efforts to increase supply fail to meet the need. This resource is a summary of our full “Triage Protocol Guidelines.”

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Triage Protocol Guidelines

Triage protocols can be ethically appropriate when a genuine crisis situation arises, the demand for resources (e.g., space, staff, and equipment) surpasses availability, and other reasonable efforts to increase supply fail to meet the need. They must be built on a proper, principled moral framework, such as this set of guidelines offered by the NCBC.

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Ethical Concerns with COVID-19 Triage Protocols

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, The National Catholic Bioethics Center has fielded numerous questions regarding COVID-19 triage protocols. We have reviewed a number of such protocols from both Catholic and secular sources; and while we do not question the need for appropriate policies or question the good motives of their authors, we do have concerns.

We offer this document to alert Catholic (and other) health care providers of elements within these protocols that may conflict with an institution’s mission and Catholic identity.

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Points to Consider: Triage in the Perspective of Catholic Bioethics

Triage is an organized process of determining the priority of treating patients based on the severity of their condition. Closely linked to triage in times of crisis or during emergency events is rationing, the controlled allocation of medical equipment, services, or resources, including the time and attention of health care professionals. As the pandemic spreads in breadth and depth, people are beginning to call for programs of triage and rationing of health care. How should Catholic health care professionals and administrators address these issues?

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Moral Choices When Not All Can Be Saved

In a PowerPoint presentation produced during the SARS epidemic, Marie Hilliard offers notes on the willingness of health care professionals to care for patients in an epidemic, the problem of medical negligence, and the general duty of human beings to care for each other. She discusses various moral frameworks for decision making, rules of triage, and the challenge of rationing.

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