Ethics & Medics

The principle of a preferential option for the poor is an oft misunderstood Catholic teaching, in part because it is rarely explored beyond casual invocation. In this article, Christopher Reilly explores this principle as it pertains to Bioethics. In order to clarify the concept, this article puts forth nine points to follow in order to effectively implement this principle.

Brain death is a contentious subject, especially in the area of Catholic bioethics. Answering the question of when an individual is truly dead has a wide application in the field of medicine, particularly when determining when it is licit to begin the process of organ transplantation. Global Ischemic Penumbra raises an additional issue in that it closely mimics brain death, but is not in fact a terminal condition.