Reducing the Cost of Medical Care
The main controversy over the proposed health care legislation currently being discussed has to with its cost. There have been many articles in the Times presenting studies indicating that much very expensive medical care produces little or no positive results and is not evidenced based. The recent article "I n Health Reform, a Cancer Offers and Acid Test", ( The Times, July 8, 2009, page A1) makes just this point. It lists the costs of the different treatments for prostate cancer from $2436. to $ 51069 , stating that the risks of the more invasive care are not worth the small ---or " non-existent benefits" Some time ago in the Times, an article entitled " 26 Billion a year on Spine Surgery and We Don't know Whether it Helps". (2.5% of total medical costs) The article goes on to report that "in 85 % of back pain cases, we don't know what causes the pain".. Research in the area of showing "evidence based" confirmation of therapeutic effectiveness might well save enough money to make the health care plan in contention practical and affordable. Another major step would be to in some way increase the use of primary care---one-on-one evaluation and treatment with one's "family physician".
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Why Not Baptism for Aborted Fetuses?
Religious anti-abortionists claim that life begins at conception, and that all fetuses are living beings. Abortion is either of two types--induced as a medial procedure or by miscarriage ( spontaneous abortion) The latter occurs in roughly 20 % of normal pregnancies. If, as Christians claim, all fetuses are living beings, why don't they claim that all aborted fetuses should be baptized and have a Christian burial? If they are living beings, why don't they treat them like living beings and not let them be discarded as medical waste? They seem to want to save their lives but not their souls!
Religious anti-abortionists claim that life begins at conception, and that all fetuses are living beings. Abortion is either of two types--induced as a medial procedure or by miscarriage ( spontaneous abortion) The latter occurs in roughly 20 % of normal pregnancies. If, as Christians claim, all fetuses are living beings, why don't they claim that all aborted fetuses should be baptized and have a Christian burial? If they are living beings, why don't they treat them like living beings and not let them be discarded as medical waste? They seem to want to save their lives but not their souls!
Roe vs Wade Has Saved Over a Half Million Lives!
In the article, "Palin Disclosures Spotlight McCain's Screening Process", ( The Times, September 2, Page 1.) it is reported that McCain would have preferred to select either Senator Joseph Lieberman or Governor Tom Ridge as his running mate. However, since both these men are pro-choice, he felt that they would be unacceptable to the evangelical contingent of the republican party. Prior to Roe vs Wade, ( enacted in 1973) it was estimated that approximately 15,000 women died from illegal or self-induced "coat-hanger" abortions every year. Therefore in the 35 years since Roe vs Wade, over a half million women's lives have been saved.
: Sarah Palin and God
Governor Sarah Palin has stated that the war in Iraq is " God's Plan" and that God is also interested in the Alaskan pipeline. Since the Governor seems to have access to inside information from God, she should let us know of other of his plans---such as, "When and where will the next war break out" and "When and where will the next terrorist attack occur in the United States?" As you recall, Pat Robertson said that God let 9/11 happen. They both seem to have received some special communications from the Almighty. This is something really unique that the Governor could bring to Washington if elected.
Pat Robertson in Lipstick
We all heard the question recently from Governor Sarah Kalin "" What's the difference between a hockey-mom and a pit-bull?" ---answer ---"lipstick". Well, my question is " What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson?"---answer---"lipstick." Pat Robertson told us that God allowed 9/11 to happen, and Sarah Palin tells us that the Iraq war is God's plan. The distinguished theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr once commented that there is no more dangerous person than one who claims to know what God is thinking.
We all heard the question recently from Governor Sarah Kalin "" What's the difference between a hockey-mom and a pit-bull?" ---answer ---"lipstick". Well, my question is " What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson?"---answer---"lipstick." Pat Robertson told us that God allowed 9/11 to happen, and Sarah Palin tells us that the Iraq war is God's plan. The distinguished theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr once commented that there is no more dangerous person than one who claims to know what God is thinking.
Miscarriages--God's Abortions
In the New York Times, Saturday, May 9th, on Page A17 there is an article entitled, "Roman Catholic War on Abortion".in which the subject of abortion is presented as the reason many Catholic clergy oppose the invitation to President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University. According to Roman Catholic beliefs, the earliest fetus represents a human life, and is to be treated as such. Therefore to perform an abortion is equivalent to murder. It is estimated that between 15 and 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, i.e spontaneous abortion. The Bible says, " are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?-- yet not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father". We must therefore assume that God is aware of the phenomenon of miscarriage and, by definition, a participant . In addition, if all such fetuses are human beings, should they not be baptized and have a Christian funeral and burial? I recall as a medical student participating in legal medically indicated abortion that the nurse in the operating room, inasmuch as the mother was Catholic, baptized the aborted specimen, Can the Catholic clergy explain this discrepancy in the handling of fetuses if they are , in effect, full fledged human beings?
In the New York Times, Saturday, May 9th, on Page A17 there is an article entitled, "Roman Catholic War on Abortion".in which the subject of abortion is presented as the reason many Catholic clergy oppose the invitation to President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University. According to Roman Catholic beliefs, the earliest fetus represents a human life, and is to be treated as such. Therefore to perform an abortion is equivalent to murder. It is estimated that between 15 and 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, i.e spontaneous abortion. The Bible says, " are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?-- yet not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father". We must therefore assume that God is aware of the phenomenon of miscarriage and, by definition, a participant . In addition, if all such fetuses are human beings, should they not be baptized and have a Christian funeral and burial? I recall as a medical student participating in legal medically indicated abortion that the nurse in the operating room, inasmuch as the mother was Catholic, baptized the aborted specimen, Can the Catholic clergy explain this discrepancy in the handling of fetuses if they are , in effect, full fledged human beings?
Atheism Is Not a Religion
The current presidential candidates are on the spot to confess their religious beliefs as is no other previous election. It is said that an atheist could never be elected to the White House. It would be political suicide for any candidate to deny his or her affiliation with a religious faith. However, to attest to belief in a god doesn't necessarily mean one really does. Certainly if all those who said they were Christian believers really were, it would be a different society altogether, in my opinion. America is hardly a Christian country. According to the Bible,----Jesus , Himself,--- it is a land of adulterers and fornicators, as any remarried divorcees are adulterers and any sex out of marriage is fornication. Adultery is the subject of one of the ten commandments, and fornication, according to St Paul is such that he admonishes widows and single women to marry, " for it is better to marry than to burn".
Atheists these days are seen as pariahs -- an evil bunch of dissidents , a threat to organized religions.---social undesirables. Only last week the Pope advised Catholics not to see a movie which he felt encouraged atheism. However, atheism is not a cult or a movement aimed at debunking any religion. Atheists do not proselytize, preach or attempt to convert others to their beliefs, or otherwise attempt to encourage others to join them, Nor do they hate and voice intolerance of believers, as Christians do non-believers.. Rather than using the term atheist to describe this group, , it is more accurate to use the term "non-believer". This more explicitly describes their position. Non-believers are not against any belief system, They just don't subscribe to any. After all, no one--up to and including the Pope in Rome, "knows" whether there is a living God in the sky who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc. God is the subject of a variety of religious belief systems--- not a fact. The question " Do you believe in god?' should really read " Do you believe there is a god?" The non-believer would answer, " No I don't". And when you come right down to it, the minority non-believers have as much chance of being right as the believers--because, either there is or there isn't a supreme god, as described by the various religions. Although the vast majority of Americans say they believe in a god, it doesn't make their position more likely to be true than the minority who disagree. Non-believers are not intolerant of believers, nor do they try to change other's beliefs. Non-believers are not threatened by those who disagree with them as are many religious adherents. Those religions that condemn non-believers to hell or advocate death to "infidels" merely reveal their own doubts, fearing that the slightest test might undermine their positions. Christians used to execute heretics and some Muslims still advocate it. Do they really think their god approves of this? As Rheinhold Niebuhr one said," religious fanaticism is rooted in doubt.
Even the Pope Doesn't Get It!
In the Times today, ( Page A22) the Pope is quoted as saying the church must
" address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores". What the Pope doesn't get is that the idea that sexual abuse of children is a sin in the eyes of the church is the least of its evils in this society. Sexual abuse of children is a crime--a felony- -punishable by imprisonment. it is also very destructive to the child, often causing life-long psychological damage requiring lengthy therapy in some cases. His viewing only the religious infraction as the important one, reveals his own lack of understanding of human psychosexual development and the potential psychological trauma to thousands of children caused by pedophile priests. It is also an attempt to minimize the disastrous effects of this problem by the Catholic Church by calling it merely a "scandal". It's much worse than a scandal! As Jesus, himself said, " anyone who would harm one of these little ones, it would better a millstone be tied around his neck and he be cast into the depths of the sea".
The current presidential candidates are on the spot to confess their religious beliefs as is no other previous election. It is said that an atheist could never be elected to the White House. It would be political suicide for any candidate to deny his or her affiliation with a religious faith. However, to attest to belief in a god doesn't necessarily mean one really does. Certainly if all those who said they were Christian believers really were, it would be a different society altogether, in my opinion. America is hardly a Christian country. According to the Bible,----Jesus , Himself,--- it is a land of adulterers and fornicators, as any remarried divorcees are adulterers and any sex out of marriage is fornication. Adultery is the subject of one of the ten commandments, and fornication, according to St Paul is such that he admonishes widows and single women to marry, " for it is better to marry than to burn".
Atheists these days are seen as pariahs -- an evil bunch of dissidents , a threat to organized religions.---social undesirables. Only last week the Pope advised Catholics not to see a movie which he felt encouraged atheism. However, atheism is not a cult or a movement aimed at debunking any religion. Atheists do not proselytize, preach or attempt to convert others to their beliefs, or otherwise attempt to encourage others to join them, Nor do they hate and voice intolerance of believers, as Christians do non-believers.. Rather than using the term atheist to describe this group, , it is more accurate to use the term "non-believer". This more explicitly describes their position. Non-believers are not against any belief system, They just don't subscribe to any. After all, no one--up to and including the Pope in Rome, "knows" whether there is a living God in the sky who is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc. God is the subject of a variety of religious belief systems--- not a fact. The question " Do you believe in god?' should really read " Do you believe there is a god?" The non-believer would answer, " No I don't". And when you come right down to it, the minority non-believers have as much chance of being right as the believers--because, either there is or there isn't a supreme god, as described by the various religions. Although the vast majority of Americans say they believe in a god, it doesn't make their position more likely to be true than the minority who disagree. Non-believers are not intolerant of believers, nor do they try to change other's beliefs. Non-believers are not threatened by those who disagree with them as are many religious adherents. Those religions that condemn non-believers to hell or advocate death to "infidels" merely reveal their own doubts, fearing that the slightest test might undermine their positions. Christians used to execute heretics and some Muslims still advocate it. Do they really think their god approves of this? As Rheinhold Niebuhr one said," religious fanaticism is rooted in doubt.
Even the Pope Doesn't Get It!
In the Times today, ( Page A22) the Pope is quoted as saying the church must
" address the sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores". What the Pope doesn't get is that the idea that sexual abuse of children is a sin in the eyes of the church is the least of its evils in this society. Sexual abuse of children is a crime--a felony- -punishable by imprisonment. it is also very destructive to the child, often causing life-long psychological damage requiring lengthy therapy in some cases. His viewing only the religious infraction as the important one, reveals his own lack of understanding of human psychosexual development and the potential psychological trauma to thousands of children caused by pedophile priests. It is also an attempt to minimize the disastrous effects of this problem by the Catholic Church by calling it merely a "scandal". It's much worse than a scandal! As Jesus, himself said, " anyone who would harm one of these little ones, it would better a millstone be tied around his neck and he be cast into the depths of the sea".
Selective Morality
Pat Robertson in Lipstick
We all heard the question recently from Governor Sarah Kalin "" What's the difference between a hockey-mom and a pit-bull?" ---answer ---"lipstick". Well, my question is " What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson?"---answer---"lipstick." Pat Robertson told us that God allowed 9/11 to happen, and Sarah Palin tells us that the Iraq war is God's plan. The distinguished theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr once commented that there is no more dangerous person than one who claims to know what God is thinking.
We all heard the question recently from Governor Sarah Kalin "" What's the difference between a hockey-mom and a pit-bull?" ---answer ---"lipstick". Well, my question is " What's the difference between Sarah Palin and Pat Robertson?"---answer---"lipstick." Pat Robertson told us that God allowed 9/11 to happen, and Sarah Palin tells us that the Iraq war is God's plan. The distinguished theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr once commented that there is no more dangerous person than one who claims to know what God is thinking.
Abortion By God.
In the New York Times, Saturday, May 9th, on Page A17 there is an article entitled, "Roman Catholic War on Abortion".in which the subject of abortion is presented as the reason many Catholic clergy oppose the invitation to President Obama to speak at Notre Dame University. According to Roman Catholic beliefs, the earliest fetus represents a human life, and is to be treated as such. Therefore to perform an abortion is equivalent to murder. It is estimated that between 15 and 20% of all pregnancies end in miscarriage, i.e spontaneous abortion. The Bible says, " are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?-- yet not one of them shall fall to the ground without your Father". We must therefore assume that God is aware of the phenomenon of miscarriage and, by definition, a participant . In addition, if all such fetuses are human beings, should they not be baptized and have a Christian funeral and burial? Can the Catholic clergy explain this discrepancy in the handling of fetuses if they are , in effect, full fledged human beings?
The Deadly Toll of Abortion By Amateurs
The article in the Times, "The Deadly Toll of Abortion By Amateurs" ( Tuesday, June 1, Page D1) reminds me of the similar situation as it existed in this country before Roe vs Wade. Up to that time, it is estimated that every year approximately 15,000 women died from botched illegal or self-induced "coat-hanger" abortions Therefore , one could estimate that over a half million women's lives have been saved in the 35 years since that ruling. No one ever talks about this striking statistic when the subject of pro-life vs pro-choice is debated.
The article in the Times, "The Deadly Toll of Abortion By Amateurs" ( Tuesday, June 1, Page D1) reminds me of the similar situation as it existed in this country before Roe vs Wade. Up to that time, it is estimated that every year approximately 15,000 women died from botched illegal or self-induced "coat-hanger" abortions Therefore , one could estimate that over a half million women's lives have been saved in the 35 years since that ruling. No one ever talks about this striking statistic when the subject of pro-life vs pro-choice is debated.
The Crucial Question re Same-sex Marriage
BELIEFS vs SCIENCE
In the article " A Call to Catholics to Trust What Cannot Be Seen, ( The Times, Monday, April 20, Page A22) the newly installed Bishop Dolan "called on those in his flock to build their faith on ""trust in what cannot be seen"" and not ""on empirical, scientific evidence". His comments recalls Martin Luther's comment centuries ago, " "reason is the enemy of religion'" How true!. Bishop Dolan is saying,in effect, --- eschew what is known to be true by the study of concrete evidence, i.e reality,--- and put your faith in what we hope is true---but we'll never know to be true until we die. In other words let your beliefs be your reality, even though a belief is not a fact. .What century is the Bishop living in?
Another article about the on-going discussions and controversy about same sex marriage appeared in the Times,--- ",Civil Rights Leader Is Under Fire for Backing Same-sex Marriage" ( The Times, Saturday, July 11 page A11) The debate about the morality of gay relationships and legality of gay marriage will not come to any fair and rational decision until a very basic question is finally answered. That is, is homosexuality in-born, and therefore, for the religious right, God-given, or is it a matter of individual choice? Certainly the continuing remnants of social opprobrium of everything gay suggests that no one would voluntarily decide to be gay, even if that were possible--which it obviously isn't by any knowledgeable opinion. And with the American Psychiatric Association delisting homosexuality as a pathological condition, along with the total lack of clinical evidence that it can be “cured,” the overwhelming scientific opinion is that homosexuality is either innate or is determined very early in human development and is therefore essentially “normal” for some individuals in our society. It's therefore incumbent upon our society that they be treated as such.
To Bill O'Reilly-- of Fox News
Dear Bill---
You're the doctor, Bill and a woman comes to you in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and you diagnose eclampsia, which is often fatal. What do you do? or another woman in the 3rd trimester has a fetus with defects incompatible with life, such as " absent brain", or Down's syndrome with many defects including a heart that would need immediate open heart surgery with high risk, or other defect, such as stumps above the elbows and knees for extremities--there are many such major problems possible. What would you do in these circumstances? Save the woman or the fetus? These are difficult decisions that have to be made in order to offer good treatment as an obstetrician. Many have declined to deal with these very difficult decisions because of all the bad publicity, threats, bombings, etc. Only a few doctors have ben willing to deal with these very nasty problems. Would you? Bill--Before Roe vs Wade, each year 15,000 women died from botched illegal or self-induced " coat-hanger abortions". Do you want to see this statistic again?
You're the doctor, Bill and a woman comes to you in the 3rd trimester of pregnancy and you diagnose eclampsia, which is often fatal. What do you do? or another woman in the 3rd trimester has a fetus with defects incompatible with life, such as " absent brain", or Down's syndrome with many defects including a heart that would need immediate open heart surgery with high risk, or other defect, such as stumps above the elbows and knees for extremities--there are many such major problems possible. What would you do in these circumstances? Save the woman or the fetus? These are difficult decisions that have to be made in order to offer good treatment as an obstetrician. Many have declined to deal with these very difficult decisions because of all the bad publicity, threats, bombings, etc. Only a few doctors have ben willing to deal with these very nasty problems. Would you? Bill--Before Roe vs Wade, each year 15,000 women died from botched illegal or self-induced " coat-hanger abortions". Do you want to see this statistic again?
BELIEFS vs SCIENCE
In the article " A Call to Catholics to Trust What Cannot Be Seen, ( The Times, Monday, April 20, Page A22) the newly installed Bishop Dolan "called on those in his flock to build their faith on ""trust in what cannot be seen"" and not ""on empirical, scientific evidence". His comments recalls Martin Luther's comment centuries ago, " "reason is the enemy of religion'" How true!. Bishop Dolan is saying,in effect, --- eschew what is known to be true by the study of concrete evidence, i.e reality,--- and put your faith in what we hope is true---but we'll never know to be true until we die. In other words let your beliefs be your reality, even though a belief is not a fact. .What century is the Bishop living in?
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