An essay on some aspects of medicine in Malta between 1934 - 1990

It has been wisely said that experience is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you. Especially the young tend to sneer at one who is always ready to justify whatever he says or does by saying that is what experience has taught him. This is hardly fair since he who quotes his experience is really only offering to present his listener with what he has acquired by his own exertions. In this essay I will in many ways offer to the reader what experience has taught me for which gratitude should be a fit reward. It is clear that what the "Medical Association of Malta" requires is an essay, qualifying this only by saying that "authors may choose any subject" as long as it has a medical variant, which is rather broad as a term of reference. It seems to me this could suggest the description of some clinical condition or procedure, of some technique or some special therapeutic measure. It could also mean presuming the eassayist is a medical man that the writer would be describing in biographic terms some part of his life which he had assumed to be of medical interest. Since I am one of the oldest doctors living in Malta and since I have had a varied life it is along these lines that this essay will be cast.peer-reviewe

Cooperation in marriage-related legislation

This article will first explore the basic tool, namely the doctrine of cooperation in evil that Catholic moral theology offers to handle situations where the moral view of politicians or judges conflicts with the legal or political exigencies. This will be followed by a particular case study involving cooperation in a contentious issue which emerged during my experience as a member of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE), which is a pluralistic, interdisciplinary and independent advisory body to the European Commission. Finally, three specific case studies involving cooperation in controversial issues of marriage-related legislation, faced recently by Maltese politicians, will be discussed in the light of the practical wisdom, new insights and boarder horizon acquired through the author's EGE experience.peer-reviewe

Human dignity in European public policy on biotechnology

The main contribution of this paper is to prove that in EU Directives and Recommendations, human dignity is not an elusive concept but rather a regulatory restraint in European public policies on biotechnology, particularly through the influence of the European Group of Ethics in Science and New Technologies (EGE).peer-reviewe

Marriage as sacrament : baptism or the practice of faith of the spouses?

There is gamut of unresolved issues, some of them of a pastoral nature, others theological, which provoke theologians and canonists to re-examine the doctrine about the sacramentality of marriage. One of these unclear and complex problems is the issue of the lack of faith of a great number of baptised persons who approach the Church for sacramental marriage. One may classify baptised persons under two categories: believers and nonbelievers. The basis of this theological distinction is the presence or absence of active personal faith. Nowadays, it is becoming more and more common that baptised non-believers opt for a Christian marriage not for religious reasons, but exclusively for motives that are social, familiar, of pure convenience, or because of the external glamour of the religious. This situation is triggering off a host of intriguing questions: Is every marriage between baptised persons ipso facto a sacramental marriage? Could lack of faith impede the marriage? Does lack of faith affect the fruitfulness of the sacrament or its validity? These questions, which have troubled the Catholic Church for the past two centuries, present a daunting challenge to both theologians and canon lawyers! [excerpt]peer-reviewe

Our common home belongs to all generations

The defence of the weak members of society from the socio-political and economic forces which, in one way or another, have threatened their fundamental human rights, has been at the centre of the church’s social teaching. The body of “social wisdom” on socio-economic, political, cultural and environmental matters which has developed in a rich fashion especially during the last one hundred years or so spells out the church’s deep concern for “the joys and hopes, the sorrows and anxieties, of ... those who are poor or in any way oppressed.” Christian social ethics is by no means a static collection of doctrinal social statements. Rather, it is a collection of social values and principles which are proactively applicable to the new challenges of the day. One may conclude that modern Christian social thought is characterised by three distinct perspectives. During the pre-conciliar era, the main concern of the church was how to resolve the conflict between advantaged and disadvantaged individuals or classes. Many workers and their families became poor, vulnerable and powerless as a result of the socio-economic and political structures created by the industrial revolution. Both Liberalism and Collectivism, as expressed in selfish capitalism and manifested in the theory of socialism, were vehemently criticized because they were an obstacle to the full and authentic development of the worker. [excerpt]peer-reviewe

Average birth weight in Malta

According to popular belief the Maltese tend to have large babies, though no study in Malta has yet been made. The purpose of this study is intended to give an indication of the average Maltese birth weight. The sample was taken from the weights of 4103 live neonates of Maltese parents born during the years 1951 to 1959. The figures were collected from St. Luke's Hospital, Blue Sisters Hospital, David Bruce Military Hospital and The Malta Memorial District Nursing Association. Birth weight, birth order and sex were the factors considered. Data collected showed that the average weight of the first born male was 7 lb. 5.3 oz. and of the female 7 lb. 0.8 oz. There is a general tendency for the birth to increase with every additional birth. The second male and the third female tend to be heavier than the first few babies. The average weight of all recorded births is 7 lb. 9.8 oz. for boys and 7 lb. 4.7 oz. for girls. Another observation was that the average weight is slightly higher than that of English babies.peer-reviewe

Family ministry : the interface between church doctrine and pastoral care

This article does not focus on which doctrine needs to be developed, or which pastoral practice is unacceptable in the light of Church doctrine. To bring the Church’s teaching and the pastoral practice into harmony with each other, one needs to go beyond the fake polarity of two Churches: the Church of mercy and the Church dominated by rules which punish the sinner. Since Church doctrine and pastoral care should not contradict each other, it is only through a process of rethinking with “renewed freshness and enthusiasm”8 that this thorny issue can be resolved.peer-reviewe

Generalized gangliosidosis in Malta

The purpose of this paper is to describe the clinical features of four cases of generalized gangliosidosis, two of which in siblings. In two of the cases, and in one of the siblings, B-galactosidase deficiency was demonstrated in blood and urine samples. The point that emerges from these cases is the realization that the clinical distinction between the various ganglioside lipidoses is now no 'longer possible, even in the clinically 'typical' case the resemblance to one or other of the classical Tay-Sachs or Niemann Pick is meaningless without the aid of specialized enzymatic tests. Moreover, the dramatic finding of the cherry-red spots in the retina is now no longer pathognomonic of classical Tay-Sachs disease, as was formerly widely held by clinicians. In every case the exact metabolic defect should be pin-pointed before a definite diagnosis can be made. It therefore becomes mandatory to investigate all patients in this group by special chemical techniques.peer-reviewe

A decision consequence-based model to understand the phenomena in motorcycle engineering design from a human factor's perspective

Research has shown that motorcycle riders' persona and posture have a large impact on motorcycle safety, bringing these challenges into the domain of human factors. Besides these aspects, motorcycle designers must consider the emotional values of such artefacts for it to be successful in the market. Indeed, motorcycle designers must take into account multitude of factors when developing such artefacts. These all pose challenges to designers whilst carrying out motorcycle design. A study was carried out with motorcycle designers to investigate their current design practices, and challenges faced during motorcycle design. A critical literature review revealed that there is a research gap in decision consequence models which do not take a holistic view of the underlying phenomena during design decision-making of motorcycle designers. The gap in literature together with the outcome of the study, collectively led to the development of a decision consequence-based phenomena model during motorcycle design. The model is validated with two case studies from the motorcycle industry through the use of a comparative-validation approach.peer-reviewe

Ethical issues of routine universal screening

Few diseases have raised as many ethical questions as AIDS and HIV infection. One of these questions concerns the use of blood tests to identify individuals infected with HIV. Because there is no known cure for AIDS, most efforts today aim at reducing the number of cases through prevention of transmission. This fact sparked the debate over identifying HIV carriers. Fear of transmission throughout much of the population has led many to call for a universal routine screening to identify people who are seropositive for HIV and who therefore could transmit the virus to others. In this short presentation, the ethical issue concerning systematic screening of an entire population is purposely ignored because such a screening programme is hardly feasible and the costs of the operation are very high. I think that it is more appropriate to focus on the following two main issues: (a) an explanation of the set of general ethical guidelines that serve as a basis for all screening programmes, whether voluntary or mandatory; and (b) the application of these ethical principles to the issue of routine universal screening to specific groups in a hospital setting.peer-reviewe