CCBI Resources for COVID-19 Matters – April 7th, 2020

We hope you will find some of the links we provide here useful and informative. There is a wealth of information available, and no doubt everyone is quite aware of some of the developments. A few people have been kind enough to send us links to good information, and we are passing that on to you.

There is a rather graphic, but realistic, article from the New York Times about the use of ventilators, sent by John McGrath, one of CCBI’s board members, and another article from the Journal of the American Medical Association, with comments by Bob Parke, a bioethicist who often collaborates with us.

I looked back at some of our earlier CCBI articles, videos and YouTube presentations, and saw that a lot of material on our website is still relevant. You will see recordings on pandemics, presented in 2010 (!) by Shawn Tracy and by our long-time collaborator, Dr Rory Fisher, which raise similar ethical concerns as today’s pandemic.

We have included a short, CCBI video that discusses forgoing treatment, as we have received quite a few questions about how to decide whether treatment on a ventilator is always of benefit to a patient with COVID-19. This video gives some answers on this topic from a Catholic perspective. Also, here is a short video from the Pontifical Academy of Life on the “throw-away” culture of life. Moira McQueen, LLB, MDiv, PhD

Executive Director, Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute
Lecturer, Faculty of Theology

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The New York Times

What You Should Know Before You Need a Ventilator

It breaks my heart that patients who will get sick enough to need them won’t know what desperate situations they face.

By Kathryn Dreger

Dr. Dreger is a doctor of internal medicine in Northern Virginia and a clinical assistant professor of medicine at Georgetown University.

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From the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)

Journal Article:  https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2763952

The Importance of Addressing Advance Care Planning and Decisions About Do-Not-Resuscitate Orders During Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)

J. Randall Curtis, MD, MPH^1,2; Erin K. Kross, MD^1,2; Renee D. Stapleton, MD, PhD³

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA. Published online March 27, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4894

Followed by:  Comment: Bob Parke
April 1, 2020
Advance Care Planning a Gift to Ourselves, Families and Healthcare Providers
Bob Parke | Bioethicist UHN Toronto

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CRUX:

Virus reveals elderly as victims of a ‘throwaway culture,’ Vatican official says

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From the Canadian Catholic Bioethics Institute

Forgoing Treatment

Ethical Concerns in Pandemic Planning, Part 2

Ethical Concerns in Pandemic Planning, Part 3

Ethical Concerns in Pandemic Planning – Dr Rory Fisher