O\u27Laughlin, Bernard J.

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The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 35 | Number 3 Article 1August 1968The President's Page: The Artificial HeartBernard J. O'LaughlinFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationO'Laughlin, Bernard J. (1968) "The President's Page: The Artificial Heart," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 35 : No. 3 , Article 1.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol35/iss3/1DR. O' LOUG HLIN TODA Y'S NEEDS the requirements of God and of our fe llowman are slightly diffe rent than were when Christ addressed the weaJthy young man who listened and sad. They are somewhat different now than when Jean Read asked the Physicians Association for permission to help the struggling GuiJd of Physicians at the risk of her job. We owe her much, and we owe the CHA Our words can acknowledge our debt , but cannot repay it. Perhaps we have to emulate her devoted service and to heed Christ's admonitions to help the hospitals in their time of crisis. Perhaps we can re pay that s.isters who "own" and "ope rate" the hospitals now realize that the and the State have a great interest and concern and that the courts actually raised the question of ownership and management of hospitals by Governmental and quasi-governmental planning agencies set policy ~G!11P.rrnine action for the sisters in ways not al ways to their liking and possibly t to th'em. They often feel that their work is not needed and that their is not wanted. They d id not join the orders to serve the wealthy. they have many rea l friends in the community, more informed support tely needed. We doctors can give it. We can be community ives on hospital boards and trusts. We can and often have acted in our 15 1 .. t ·:· , · i : ,, ' • <tl ,~ • • 0 f '· . ·. . own behaJf as representatives of the medicaJ staff. Our intell ige1• support may prevent the sisters from abandoning the Convent!· mission in favor o f more attractive and " relevant" ones. The " relevant" needs of today cry out from every newspaper, n television set - The Urban crisis, The Pove rty crisis, The Educatic Racial crisis, The Ethics Crises, abortion , sterilization, euthanasia, g Yo uth Crisis, The Drug Crisis, The War. Committed and COl conventionaJ religious are understandably dubious about hospital mi like these. And in the face of governmental interference , is it any they look for o ther places to exercise their mission of love. None in the above list of Crises is self-solving. None are diminishin campaign for abortion is heating up again , and the Guilds are becom1 concerned . The Hippocratic , Pythagorean, Judeo-Christian medica] tr. on love of neighbor seems more HypocriticaJ in the Hght depersonalization and dehumanization. We even see strong tre nds in t in the hospitaJs. The visible presence of t he sisters' love for God and fellowman a1 personal and humane environment that this can produce in a hospit:• aJJ. This exercise in stanching the flow of love from our society is ml performed where it already has a foothold . I believe that we physil should help the sisters in this inspired mission over and above and o ur practices. Thus we can meet Christ's chaJJenge and possibly rep and the CHA for the lifesaving help they gave us not too many years B. J . O'Loughlin, M.D. nd stront , hospital a ine, and ..:risis, The 1cide, The rned, the n at times lnder that n fact, the justifiably tion based f today's direction the deeply known to .!fficiently 1s can and he risk of Jean Read 152 Linacre Quarterll 

The President\u27s Page: The Artificial Heart

The Linacre QuarterlyVolume 35 | Number 2 Article 1May 1968The President's Page: The Artificial HeartBernard J. O'LaughlinFollow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnqRecommended CitationO'Laughlin, Bernard J. (1968) "The President's Page: The Artificial Heart," The Linacre Quarterly: Vol. 35 : No. 2 , Article 1.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/lnq/vol35/iss2/1President's Page . . . DR. O"LOUGHLIN THE ARTIFICIAL HEART The forthcoming program of the AMA Committee on Medicine and Religion carries the above title as one of the main topics for discussion on Sunday evening at 8: IS in the Masonic Memorial Temple, 1111 California Street, San Francisco. The Reverend Paul McCleave will have Professors Vincent Collins, M.D. of · Chicago; Howard Lewis, M.D. of Oregon; Francis Moore, M.D. of Harvard; and Jack Provonsha, PhD of Lorna Linda discuss Hearts, Machines, and Human Experimentation. It will be an excellent program and all members are urged to attend following the Gerald Kelly Lecture at the Drake Hotel which will be given by Dr. J. Engelbert Dunphy, Professor of Surgery, at U.C. San Francisco. The sincerity and genuine concern welling from the hearts of these professors may contrast sharply with the comments of other colleagues responding to public queries and to the investigations of Senator Walter Mondale (Democrat, Minnesota) and his Commission on Ethical and Social Implications of Health Science Research and Development. Some of those published seem to come from an Artificial Heart. Moral Philosophy or Ethics should be as advanced as transplant techniques, and perhaps they are~ After all, the technique was first successfully employed in 1905 by Alexis Carrell. But the moral climate has changed. The public, stimulated by instant medical reporting, seems ready for almost any medical maneuver·. Seven Los Angeles Hospitals have united to form a "Transplant Pool" intended to facilitate the "harvesting and exchange" of organs. The terms of Commerce may be appropriate to the inevitable discussions of distributive justice. Will availability of organs be on the basis of highest bidder? First come - first served? Or will someone decide who is most worthy oflife? E. J. Younger, the district attorney of Los Angeles County, has asked assistance of a committee headed by Lee Dubridge, President of Caltech, in solving moral and legal problems raised by organ transplantation. Questions which bother the D.A. are: (1) Should the present law, which says that if a doctor removes a donor's beating heart, he "murders" the donor, be changed to permit this under certain controlled circumstances, and what should these circumstances be? (2) May, 1968 87 llj • r ~ . --: . f• ' : I Ca., new guidelines be made for determining the moment of death and could ese guidelines be incorporated into . a statute to protect the public interest ar be satisfactory to both the legal and medical professions? (3) Who may, and l Jer what circumstances, consent to· give his heart or liver to another? Can amino ive this consent- over the objection of parents or guardian? ( 4) Who shall dete1 ine priority of prospective donees and should the state participate in the decisio1 (5) Who should be permitted to perform vital organ transplants? Should there ~ a minimum requirement so far as experience and facilities are concerned? A mother in England has proposed that her mentally defective daughter's c 1ns be used as transplants "to enable another unfortunate child to enjoy a n : nal life." Regarding protection of patients, Werner Forrssrnann, Nobel Laureate sks "Where is safety against ambition and wantonness, weakness of characte md pursuit of fame guaranteed?" Medical opinion today is divided upon the art transplantation as a mode of therapy. The National Academy of Sciences Bo< : of Medicine calls heart transplantation an investigation to be conducted ·ith greatest care and with equal concern for ethical principles. What <' cal principles? It is time to rethink and restate our Christian ethic. Simply dusting off "St 1ma Theologica" won't answer Senator Mondale's current questions on what j · ife? Who shall live? What is death? Who shall die? Whose genes need altering and y? How far should we go in constructing artificial life? I think an enlightene(l Jost conciliar, relevant approach should be made to today's ethical problems. hey won't go away. This journal would be an appropriate forum. I hope ;hat knowledgeable people take up the challenge and the example of Father l nch (see this issue) and the editors of the recent Ciba Symposium on Medical f tics. REFERENCES 1. Curran, C. and White, R., The Morality of Human Transplants. Sign 47: 23-29, March, 196 8. 2. De Bakey, M.E., Medical Research and the Golden Rule. JAMA, 203: 574-576, Feb. 19, 1968. 3. Forrssmann, W. , Frankfurter Allgemeine. 4. Letters, Manchester Guardian, Dec. 28, 1967. 88 B. J. O'Loughlin, M.D. 5. Page 1., Instant Reporting - do v. need it? Modern Medicine, 69-11, Fe 12, 1968. 6. Page 1., Deployment of H a lth Resources, Modern Medicine : · t -83, March 11, 1968. 7. Medical Ethics and Research, VA Monograph 10-2, R&E Service, D M. & s. 8. Veterans Administration, Washington, D.C., 20402 Linacre Quarterly 

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The President\u27s Page: The Artificial Heart

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