A Catholic Physician’s Perspective on the Current State of Medicine
I’ve been a physician for a very long time, and I still love what I do. I would not have had it any other way – except maybe being an astronaut. But I wear glasses, so that wouldn’t work …
Most of the time it was really fun. Some times were pretty tough. I didn’t like working 36 hours on and 12 hours off when I rotated through neurosurgery. But it was a lot of fun when the first operation I ever did was to open the chest of a young man stabbed in the heart and removed the blood clots interfering with his heartbeat and saved his life. Unfortunately, the next time I had to do that it didn’t work …
I didn’t much enjoy taking care of the 12-year-old boy with 100% burns over his body. Survival for type of injury was unprecedented. That’s doctor-speak meaning he wasn’t going to survive no matter what we did or how hard we tried. But we did try and he did die.
But I really did have fun delivering babies. Maybe that’s why I really don’t like abortions.
I graduated from medical school a few years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in the United States. As a result, the phrase “I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy” was no longer in the Hippocratic Oath. I really didn’t like that. I think I remember quietly saying it under my breath during the ceremony. Oh, and I never did one!
I’ve generally always respected my colleagues. It’s probably because I know what they went through to become a physician. But I’ve kind of lost my respect for doctors that do abortions. And so many are being done nowadays – nearly 900,000 in the United States alone in 2019 …
It does upset me though, that we were taught bad science in medical school. I thought a person with two “XX” chromosomes was a woman and a person with an “X” and a “Y” chromosome was a man. Now it seems a person can be anything they want to be. And it really bothers me because doctors should know better. If a woman (two “X” chromosomes) thinks she’s a male that’s perfectly OK nowadays. Back when I went to school, she had a mental disorder. Now, I can’t refer to her as “she” and if I imply that she’s got a mental issue I could be sanctioned. What’s happened to medical science? And here’s where I lose it – if she wants to have her normal uterus and vagina removed and a penis constructed, there are doctors that will do it. What ever happened to Rule #1 – First do no harm! And all of that applies the same to a man (one “X” and one “Y” chromosome) who thinks he’s a woman.
But you know what really scares me? There are adults out there who believe their children are not the right gender. They want their kids to receive medications to stop them undergoing puberty so the “correct” gender can be chosen. Interesting, I was never taught in school that you could choose your gender …
I’m glad I’m an old doctor. I don’t really like what’s being taught nowadays. It doesn’t seem like it’s fun anymore. It’s sad and it’s wrong …
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk
(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000 1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→
Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass
Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’… ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
First Holy Communion: Sermon from May 16, 1943
Here is a sermon from the good old days by +Rev. Msgr. Vincent Nicholas Foy (August 14, 1915 – March 13, 2017), from 1943. Readers may recall that Pope Saint Pius X, by the decree Quam Singulari in 1910, lowered the customary age of reception of Holy Communion – after the rigours of the plague[…]Continue reading→
In the Glorious Light of Easter, Alleluia!
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory (Col. 3:3-4). The Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour[…]Continue reading→
An Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
The time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday is one of waiting, in silence, as the world wonders – anticipates – what will happen, after the death of Christ. We re-live this time each year in the anamnesis of our liturgy, and in turn look forward to the glorious re-creation of all things at the[…]Continue reading→
Europe’s Long Descent
(As we meditate on this day on Christ’s burial, and His descent into hell, it is fitting to ponder here with contributor Peter Marcus how the world seems to be heading there as well. The difference is that, although God cannot ‘redeem’ hell, nor those therein, He can and did redeem the world. There is[…]Continue reading→