January 2012
5 posts
Religious Exemption Unaltered
HHS Statement:
Today the department is announcing that the final rule on preventive health services will ensure that women with health insurance coverage will have access to the full range of the Institute of Medicine’s recommended preventive services, including all FDA -approved forms of contraception.
The USCCB response:
To force American citizens to choose between violating their...
“My involvement is in preserving a morally sound Catholic identity and in making...”
– Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, Diocese of Louisville
Catholic Health Care and the Role of the Archbishop
National Vocation Awareness Week 2012
As the Church in the United States observes & celebrates National Vocation Awareness Week, have you considered a career in Catholic Healthcare?
You could serve as a mission leader, ethicist, or provide spiritual care. Of course there are countless clinical and administrative opportunities to consider as well.
God knows we need you.
“The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes...”
– Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.
This is quite significant. I’m anxious about how it will be applicable to Catholic Healthcare.
“God chose the most ignorant one. If there was anyone more ignorant than I am,...”
– St. André Besette
December 2011
7 posts
Looking for a Place to Die →
In this op-ed, an oncology nurse eloquently articulates a (more common than not) challenge in end of life care.
“Modern Healthcare found that subsidized medical care accounted for 1.52% or less...”
– How much do hospitals spend on charity care? Analysis: Less than 2% - The Advisory Board Daily Briefing
Don Berwick's Five Principles
1. Put patients first; 2. Put the poor and disadvantaged first; 3. Start at scale. 4. Return the money—ensure that employers, states, and taxpayers see their health costs fall; and 5. Act locally.
This would be nice - especially #2.
Church should let nuns take Pill: experts →
Now, now, people…
Hospital Chaplains Seek Bigger Roles on Patient... →
Additional discussion on the importance of chaplains to patient care teams.
Life Lives
The cat on the windowsill An infant at the breast The deer in the forest Grandma in her wheelchair Life lives where it will
Enlivening flesh Captured in matter
And when cancer consumes And the car crashes Or a heart explodes
Life lives. No I No you No we
Just Life released Life unbounded And All become One
Paul Marceau 1943-2011
November 2011
2 posts
“42% of self-described “sicker” American adults had cost-related...”
– Identifying barriers to access is, hopefully, the first step to removing them.
Costs prompting sicker patients to avoid medical care - Nov. 21, 2011 — American Medical News
“We’re not here to put corporations down,” Sister Nora said, between bites of...”
– A great article about Franciscian sisters with a mission to promote corporate responsibility.
October 2011
2 posts
Push for ‘Personhood’ Amendments Is New Tack in... →
The response from the Catholic Church is muted - a federal strategy is preferred.
August 2011
7 posts
Profile of Sr. Mary Jean Ryan, Former CEO of SSM... →
/via John Straatmann
Archdiocese of Boston Names Chief Healthcare... →
Peter J. Cataldo, a renowned bioethicist, has been named the first chief health care ethicist for the Archdiocese of Boston and will assume this role on Sept. 1.
This is an intriguing model — it could be a very helpful support for ethics committees and mission leaders, particularly for strengthening hospital/diocese relationships.
Sr. Carol Keehan, DC in video for... →
If you love what you do and if you love the people that you work with… it gets you through the tough times just fine…
Cardinal criticizes contraceptive mandate, calls... →
HHS defined a religious employer as “one that: (1) has the inculcation of religious values as its purpose; (2) primarily employs persons who share its religious tenets; (3) primarily serves persons who share its religious tenets; and (4) is a nonprofit organization” under specific sections of the Internal Revenue Code.
It appears that Catholic Hospitals do not meet the 2nd and 3rd...
WatchServing Life
(Oprah Winfrey Network,
Produced by Forest Whitaker)
Hospice is a way to die with dignity, with your family … and this is their family.
“The sisters who are vowed to the task of soothing human pain and ministering to...”
– - The Report of Mercy Hospital (Muskegon), 1925-26
As found in Beyond Measure: A Legacy of Mercy by Elizabeth Mary Burns, RSM
July 2011
8 posts
Archbishop Charles Chaput on Health care reform,... →
That’s a lot of things together. Health care, of course, is one of the things the church has done in imitation of Jesus Christ, who came to heal the sick and to drive out evil in the world. It’s very important for us to be involved, but in a way that Jesus is involved, and not to do anything at all that would contravene the teachings of the Gospel. I stood with the president of the...
Institute of Medicine Recommends Free Birth Control For All
American women ought to be able to get their birth control for free, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).
The USCCB’s response – Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
I once again urge the...
Be still and know I am God.
Be still and know I am.
Be still and know.
Be still.
Be.
“As Archbishop of Chicago, while I’m not a party to this exactly, you can...”
– Francis Cardinal George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago
Speaking at the Loyola University Health System / Trinity Health Transition Ceremony
June 30, 2011
Beginning at about [46:42].
June 2011
2 posts
May 2011
6 posts
Gossip Outlets Fuel HIPAA Privacy Violations →
If Health Care Is A Right, Does That Make Doctors... →
Really?
Apple University & Mission Formation
Apple, Inc. is synonymous with Steve Jobs. As co-founder and CEO of the tech company, Jobs is credited not only with leading the creation of the Macintosh personal computer, but the iPod and the iPhone as well. A few years ago, when Jobs took a medical leave, many pundits feared it was the end of Apple. With their visionary leader no longer at the helm, the company would certainly loose direction...
Possible Reasons For Very Little Activity On This...
A. New responsibilities at work
B. Had my first baby
C. Tumblr is now on the list of blocked websites at the office
D. All of the above
Physician, Heel Thyself →
February 2011
1 post
Michigan Catholic Conference: 2011-2012... →
January 2011
12 posts
The Hot Spotters →
Atul Gawande’s most recent article in the New Yorker discusses the healthcare benefits of geo-tagging and community health workers.
Read this article. And this article, published a day later.
As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme; As tumbled over rim in roundy wells Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name; Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves - goes itself; myself it speak and spells, Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came. Í say...
ACOs Explained! →
They’re kind of like televisions or unicorns…
“The Catholic integrity of Catholic educational and health-care institutions was...”
– George Weigel makes a challenging comparison between the “Phoenix Situation” and desegregation in First Things.
Members and Consultants of the Pontifical Council... →
An American was named a Member:
Mrs. Marylee J. MEEHAN , President of the International Catholic Committee of Nurses and Medical Assistants - CICIAMS (USA)
And an American was named a Consultant:
Prof. John M. HAAS , President of the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia (USA)
Sr. Carol Keehan: NCR's 2010 Person of the Year →