Recently, there has been an attempt by some bloggers and others to distort the position of Catholic Charities USA, Catholic Health Association and the St. Vincent de Paul Society on their and the Church’s position on the current health care debate.
The Catholic Bishops have been calling for reform in health care since they published a Pastoral Letter on health care.
For a clarification and articulation of the Church’s position see comments by Sr. Carol, the President of Catholic Health Association of the US in a CNS article.
Filed under: Catholic Charities USA, Church-State, Economic Policy, healthcare, Medical Ethics, morals, Social Doctrine
I agree that any such legislation should be “abortion neutral” but doesn’t the overall welfare of the nation tend to support the purposes of helping the sick? What is more life-affirming than providing medical care? What is a better example of being a Good Samaritan than helping our neighbors cope with illness?
Obama’s plans would create a wedge of distrust between provider and patient. Socialized medicine does this by rendering a doctor more concerned for saving costs for the “system” than he is for patient welfare. And while medicine includes many worthy and caring people, I’ve not known too many doctors that work for free, nor those that will fight the system if it means going broke. Over time, especially the newer ones, will be coopted and corrupted.
Some distrust already exists on financial matters through the Byzantine and insulting medical billing practices. We all think, “Oh crap, how much is this gonna cost me,” even when we’re insured. How much worse, though, will it be when the distrust relates not to bills and paperwork but to your health. The doctor today get paid more when he tries to fix you; if anything, you have to spend some time each visit fending off his overly cautious suggestions that also happen to earn him fees. “OK. OK. Doc, I’ll get it done, next time.”
It will be one more major destructive event in the history of liberalism if the medical profession too is ruined by destroying its essential character of doctor-patient trust by creating financial and legal mandates for doctors to harm their patients.