FINALLY, here is a Catholic voice on medical ethics, including all the hot topics most often debated today. Not only does the author have 45 years of experience as a Catholic physician applying Catholic principles in clinical practice, but he also references hundreds of other experts in the medical field, as well as many priest theologians. Dr. Diamond is well known in the Catholic Medical Association, of which he is a past President. He was chosen as Pediatrician of the Year in Illinois in 1980, and in 2000 the prestigious American Academy of Pediatrics chose him as the recipient of its First Annual Award for Ethical Excellence, the Bartholome Award. Dr. Diamond is also a Fellow of the Protestant Center for Bio-Ethics and Human Dignity and is a member of the Physicians' Resource Council of Focus on the Family.

In this book, Dr. Diamond provides clear, strong answers on issues such as euthanasia, abortion, contraception and the treatment (or non-treatment) of handicapped children, showing that Catholic teaching actually liberates the physician to observe the highest ethical standards of his profession. In all, A Catholic Guide to Medical Ethics tackles 53 of the most burning issues that people in ali states of life face today. Among the topics covered are: Homosexuality and Hope; Nutrition and Hydration; Rights of Infants with Down's Syndrome; Ordinary and Extraordinary Measures to Preserve Life; Orders Not to Resuscitate; AIDS and Advocate Science; Abortifacient Contraceptives; Classroom Sex Education; Issues in Fetal Experimentation; Euthanasia; Severely Handicapped Children as Organ Donors; In-Vitro Fertilization; Determination of Death; The "Middle Ground" On Abortion; Crisis Pregnancy Counseling; Medico-Moral Issues Regarding Sterilization; Contraceptives.

Underlying all the issues in this book is the Church's insistence upon the dignity and sanctity of human life at all stages, which is "sacred from the first moment of conception by virtue of its creation in the image and likeness of God, redemption by Christ and its call to eternal life with God." (Page 19). Dr. Diamond clearly shows how we should have complete confidence in the Church's teachings and look to them with hope. Dr. Diamond's entire point of departure toward medical ethics is the (mostly unstated but nonetheless understood) principle of Natural Law, i.e., that inherent in the very nature of things are the correct answers which man needs to follow in controverted as well as routine clinical situations of all sorts. The Church's stand buttresses the Natural Law position, which is known by man's reason alone, uninstructed by Revelation, though made more certain thereby.

This book on Bio-Ethics will be welcomed not only by doctors and nurses, but also by bishops, priests, deacons, lawyers, professors, teachers, college students and the informed Catholic laity in general. The reader will marvel at the scope and competence the author elicits in topic after difficult topic facing modern medical practice. A Catholic Guide to Medical Ethics sheds a great beacon of light at a time when it is critically needed.

Its lead article is the perceptive interview on Medicine with Donald McDonald from the American Character Series, in which medicine is defined as the art of doing for nature what nature would like to do for herself if she could. First published in 1962 it was quoted extensively in the media, sold out within months, and is still applicable today. The spoken word is Herbert RatnerŐs forte, not only in interviews, but as teacher, lecturer, and leader of lively discussions. And his writing captures the best of his speaking. Among the topics covered in this book are: Hippocrates and his Oath validated anew for modern times; Luke the Physician; Plato on informed consent; numerous insights from Aristotle; an analysis of what constitutes normal; a call for family physicians; a medical critique of oral contraceptives; Innovative approaches to bothĘAIDS and semen; and a blow by blow account of the early Salk vaccine program which inadvertently introduced SV40 into the human population.

One might say Herbert RatnerŐs favorite book is the Book of Nature, which he reads so well in defense of the traditional family, natural childbirth, and breast-feeding. And from Nature he gives us a renewed appreciation of human sexuality.

In recent decades, there has been much discussion of the sanctity of life and the level of protection to be accorded to human life. This book discusses the nature of this protection, the basis for claims about its protection and how it is to be brought about in specific instances and situations. Published by University Press of America.

Genetics: A Catholic Ethical Perspective. This series of articles on the ethical implications of genetics is an anthology of papers previously published in the Linacre Quarterly, which is tile Journal of the Catholic Medical Association, and which are now reproduced with permission. In general these articles reflect the ethical teachings of the, magisterum of tile Catholic Church.

The ethical aspects of the increasingly more diverse field of human genetics, now involving cloning and embryo research, are complex. We will group the papers under various headings to simplify the review. Overviews, to include all aspects of the subject are provided by Sutton (1995 [year of publication]) and Rodriguez (2000). Genetic screening and counseling are discussed by Marmion (1988), Rodriguez (1996) and Riga (1998). Cloning and artificial fertilization are next discussed by Maloney (1980) and Iozzio (1997). The ultimate aim of much genetic research is eugenics, reviewed by Garver (1990) and Rodriguez (1998). Finally, Jaki (1998) offers a moral reflection on the National Bioethics Advisory Commission's decision to pursue the technologic imperative with its Faustian considerations. Will we sell our souls for the sake of unlimited knowledge?

Catholic Medical Ethics: Core Readings in an anthology of articles on medical ethics from a Catholic perspective. The book contains fifteen articles which are aimed at covering a gamut of philosophical and clinical issues in medical ethics. Much of the material is drawn from articles previously printed in The Linacre Quarterly. The introductory papers are aimed at an indoctrination in the theological and philosophical background of medical practice. Pope John Paul II's allocution to the International Congress of Catholic Physicians establishes the tone of basic human rights. Father Stanley Jaki's erudite and comprehensive consideration of the Purpose of Healing,is augmented by an original article on the Physician as Teacher and Prophet by Rev. Jerome Listecki, Moral Theologian.

There are three organizational statements in the book: the statement on Sex Education from the National Federation of Catholic Physicians' Guilds, a pastoral statement on Condom Distribution by the New York Bishops and statement on the Ethics of Gene Therapy by the Catholic Union of Great Britain. The NFCPG statement has received wide distribution as the seminal article on education for wholesome chastity. The New York Bishops' statement presents a bold Catholic witness against the background of a hostile political situation in the Empire State. The British statement which was a submission to the committee on the Ethics of Gene Therapy is unfortunately quite superficial perhaps as the result of the constraints imposed by that Committee.