[The physician's conscience, conscience clauses, and religious belief: A Catholic perspective].

This Essay explores how physicians may handle conflicts or conscience facing Roman Catholic Health practitioners regarding "human life" issues, especially through conscience clauses. In five parts, the author examines "first, why conscientious objection is so important in our day; second, the moral grounding for freedom in the exercise of conscience; third, the components of the physician's conscience; fourth, specific conflicts of conscience for Catholic physicians and institutions; and fifth, competing models of conflict resolution".

Holistic Care in the US Military I-The Epidaurus Project: An Initiative in Holistic Medicine for the Military Health System, 2001-2012.

This article describes the history and findings of the Epidaurus Project, a Uniformed Services University-affiliated project to bring holistic care and evidence-based design into the Military Health System (MHS). A distinguished group of civilian thought leaders contributed. The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process offered a chance to implement the Epidaurus agenda.

Medical ethics in an era of bioethics: resetting the medical profession's compass.

What it means to be a medical professional has been defined by medical ethicists throughout history and remains a contemporary concern addressed by this paper. A medical professional is generally considered to be one who makes a public promise to fulfill the ethical obligations expressed in the Hippocratic Code. This presentation summarizes the history of medical professionalism and refocuses attention on the interpersonal relationship of doctor and patient.

The Catholic Physician in an Era of Secular Bioethics.

This essay examines how commitment to the Roman Catholic moral and ethical traditions shapes the process, and content of bioethics and clinical decisions. An essential element of the vocation of Roman Catholic health professionals is to give genuine witness to that tradition in their daily clinical practices. Three questions will be addressed: 1) What is the justification for introducing religious commitments in clinical bioethics in a morally pluralist society? 2) What specifically does the Catholic medical tradition contribute to today's clinical decisions? 3) How are faith and reason to be balanced in clinical ethics? 4) Why are these questions relevant to papal calls for re-evangelization, or "re-proposal" of the faith, especially in the life of the physician?

Perioperative guidelines for elective surgery in the human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients with changes in body morphology can be challenging for the plastic surgeon. Uncertainty about the advisability of elective procedures for these patients and fears of infection transmission may cause trepidation. Plastic surgeons are likely to encounter these patients in increasing numbers.

Toward a reconstruction of medical morality.

At the center of medical morality is the healing relationship. It is defined by three phenomena: the fact of illness, the act of profession, and the act of medicine. The first puts the patient in a vulnerable and dependent position; it results in an unequal relationship.

Some things ought never be done: moral absolutes in clinical ethics.

Moral absolutes have little or no moral standing in our morally diverse modern society. Moral relativism is far more palatable for most ethicists and to the public at large. Yet, when pressed, every moral relativist will finally admit that there are some things which ought never be done.

Professionalism, profession and the virtues of the good physician.

The putative loss of professionalism in medicine has of late become of serious concern to practitioners, educators, ethicists and the public. Impassioned pleas for its restitution abound. Serious ethical obligations are linked to the idea of a profession.