The Institute of Catholic Bioethics at SJU
Annual McCormick Lecture:
Lectures/Symposium - February 7, 2008
Embryo: A Defense of Human Life
McShain Hall/Haub Executive Center
5th Floor - 6:30 PM
Robert P. George, J.D, D.Phil.
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.
He is the author of Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (1993) a Robert P. George, J.D, D.Phil. nd In Defense of Natural Law (1999), and editor of Natural Law Theory: Contemporary Essays (1992), The Autonomy of Law: Essays on Legal Positivism (1996), and Natural Law, Liberalism, and Morality (1996), all published by Oxford University Press.
RELIGION AND MEDICINE:
HOW DO THEY IMPACT YOUR WELL BEING?
To help understand the importance of how religion impacts on medicine, the Institute of Catholic Bioethics is inaugurating a 2 year lecture series that will explore the roles of various religions on the medical profession.
In addition to the amazing technological advances in the field of Medicine, there is mounting evidence of the importance of faith and religion in maximizing the health of patients. The association of medicine and religion dates back to biblical times.
1,200 studies have been conducted during the past decade studying the relationship between religion and medicine. Of these, 800 showed a positive correlation between the patients’ beliefs and the outcome of their illnesses.
The American Academy of Family Practice found that 99 percent of Family Physicians believed that spirituality aids patient healing, yet only 10 percent said that they ask their patients routinely about their faith. Yet more interesting is the fact that ninety-one percent, however, said that they raise this issue with terminal, or end-of-life, patients.
The National Institute for Healthcare Research in Maryland conducted a study of more than 91,000 individuals and documented a 50 percent reduction in coronary disease, 55 percent decrease in Chronic Pulmonary disease, 74 percent reduction in cirrhosis and 53 percent decrease in suicide risk among patients who attended a church or synagogue at least one or more times weekly, compared to those who did not.
Lecture Series #1 - March 27, 2008
Jehovah's Witnesses: Religious and Ethical Positon on Medical Therapy, Child Care, and Related Matters
Transfusion Alternative Stategies
Speaker: Alonzo Webster
Hospital Liaison Committee