
COVID-19 RESOURCES
Articles, fact sheets, interviews, FAQs and other COVID-19 related resources. (more…)
Read moreDEFENDING CIVIL RIGHTS OF PATIENTS AND THEIR ACCESS TO LIFE-SUSTAINING HEALTH CARE
Articles, fact sheets, interviews, FAQs and other COVID-19 related resources. (more…)
Read moreFor Immediate ReleaseWashington, D.C., November 19, 2020 The member organizations of the Health Care Civil Rights Task Force are publishing this statement to protect the health, dignity, civil rights, and…
Read moreMichael Vacca of the Christ Medicus Foundation joins NCBC's Joe Zalot to discuss how First Amendment religious liberty protections have been challenged during the coronavirus pandemic. (more…)
Read moreNational Review interviewed Dr. Joseph Meaney, Executive Director of the National Catholic Bioethics Center and Health Care Civil Rights Task Force member, about the controversy over the COVID-19 vaccine, including…
Read moreAs the historic COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying worldwide and draconian emergency measures are being reinstituted in Europe and elsewhere, I see an urgent need to repeat a defense of the…
Read morePATIENT ADVOCATES PUT COMPASSION INTO ACTION Visiting the sick is a work of mercy. Patient advocates manifest mercy by showing compassion to sick and suffering people. Compassion means “to suffer…
Read morePhysical and cognitive disability should not mean one’s situation is considered “end of life,” yet too many persons who are not dying are described this way. Earlier this year, Oregon’s…
Read morePATIENT ADVOCATES NURTURE HOPE I have served as a volunteer patient advocate for 35 years. The deepest kinds of suffering I encounter are profound unhappiness and loneliness, resulting in loss…
Read moreOne of the most important tasks in bioethics is distinguishing between ordinary and extraordinary means when it comes to medical care. The reason this distinction is so vital is that…
Read moreHealthcare advance directives are legal documents by which individuals express their wishes regarding medical treatment and/or appoint a trusted person to speak for them any time they are unable to make…
Read moreIn assessing when there is a duty to preserve life, the Church distinguishes between ordinary and extraordinary means.[1] Ordinary means must be taken to preserve life, and extraordinary means can…
Read moreWhen a healthcare provider recommends palliative care or hospice, patients and their families need guidance so they can make the most life-affirming decisions possible in their circumstances. The Task Force on…
Read moreAttacks on autonomy and human dignity appear to be intensifying. Autonomy, of course, refers to our ability to act as independent human beings, with an innate and inviolable human dignity…
Read moreIn 2006, I was invited to speak in Alkoven, Austria at a conference on human rights located adjacent to Hartheim Castle. Hartheim Castle was built in the ninth century and,…
Read moreThe Catholic teaching is clear: “The ordinary care owed to a sick person cannot be legitimately interrupted.” (CCC 2279) Two Jesuit priests, Father John J. Paris, a professor emeritus at…
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