Supreme Court to announce ruling on conscience v. coercion

Excerpted from commentary by Jennifer Marshall,"HHS Mandate: Only the Beginning of Obamacare’s Conscience Problems," Daily Signal, June 17, 2014 - Any day now the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule in the case of Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Wood Specialties—family-owned businesses that have gone to court to challenge a provision under Obamacare that requires them and nearly all other employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, contraception and sterilization, regardless of their religious beliefs.

The suits, brought by the Green family, evangelicals who own Hobby Lobby, and the Hahn family, Mennonites who run Conestoga Wood, are among 49 filed by family-owned businesses challenging the Obamacare HHS mandate. The Obama administration has been unwilling to compromise. Meanwhile, 51 lawsuits have been joined by hundreds of non-profit religious organizations seeking to preserve their religious independence to set internal policy consistent with their faith. All told, 300 plaintiffs.

But it is important to remember that all this commotion is the result of one small aspect of one set of regulations concerning preventive care under Obamacare. And that means we’ve only just begun to see the potential conscience problems that could come from this massive overhaul of our health care system.

Handing the moral compass to remote bureaucrats to navigate this territory is a bad idea. The centralization of more decision-making about the benefits that health plans must provide means that such determinations are more likely to be made without respect for Americans’ differing beliefs on these issues.

That’s why we need patient-centered health care. Americans should be free to choose the health care plans that meet their needs and reflect their moral convictions. Individuals and families need to be able to direct their health care in accord with their conscience; that includes the benefits, treatments and procedures financed through their health insurance.

Commentary

CMA VP for Govt. Relations Jonathan Imbody: “My friend and colleague Jennifer Marshall realizes what our founders and the ancient philosophers knew--that left unchecked, Government will compete with God for the people's allegiance, replacing His universal standards with State ideology and mandating submission. Consider the following observations:

Plato: “[T]here exist divine moral laws, not easy to apprehend, but operating upon all mankind. God, not man, is the measure of all things.”ⁱ
Cicero: "True law is right reason in agreement with Nature; it is of universal application and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrong-doing by its prohibitions."ⁱⁱ
Augustine: "True justice has no existence save in that republic whose founder and ruler is Christ....ⁱⁱⁱ [T]there can be no people, and therefore no republic, where there is no justice."^iv
Thomas Jefferson: "[O]ur rules can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them. The rights of conscience we never submitted, we could not submit. We are answerable for them to our God."^v
James Madison: "Religion, or the duty which we owe our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force and violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience."^vi
Charles Colson: "Both church and state assert standards and values in society; both seek authority; both compete for allegiance. As members of both the religious and the political spheres, the Christian is bound to face conflict."^vii

When Government replaces God and His universal standards, the only standard left is the sword of the State, which it wields with coercive power (fining Hobby Lobby $791 million dollars a year^viii) to enforce its own ideology. Take a stand with the Green and Hahn families as they fight in the courts for religious freedom. As Mordecai explained to a hesitant Queen Esther,^ix this edict also has you in its crosshairs.

Resources
CMA Supreme Court brief in Hobby Lobby religious freedom case
CMA’s Freedom2Care website on freedom of faith, conscience and speech
CMA commentaries

Action
Use our easy pre-written customizable message to support H.R. 940 - Healthcare Conscience Rights Act (House bill) and S. 1204 - Health Care Conscience Rights Act (Senate bill)

ⁱ Cited in Russell Kirk, The Roots of American Order (LaSalle, Ill.: Open Court, 1974), 81.
ⁱⁱ Charles Colson and Ellen Santilli, God and Government, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987, updated 2007, Kindle location 4917.
ⁱⁱⁱ Colson, location 1482.
^iv Colson, location 14479.
^v Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), U.S. president. Notes on the State of Virginia (1787), Query 17, p. 159, ed. William Peden (1954).
^vi James Madison (1751–1836), U.S. president. Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776. W.T. Hutchinson et al., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 1, p. 175, Chicago and Charlottesville, Virginia (1962-1991).
^vii Colson, Kindle location 2223.
^viii http://townhall.com/columnists/hankadler/2014/03/29/hobby-lobby--when-is-26-million-really-43-million-n1815062/page/full
^ix Esther 4:13.

A new study shows religion helps toughen the brain

Excerpted from “Religion, Spirituality May Build Resilience Against Depression by Toughening the Brain, Study Suggests,”Psychiatric News Alert. January 9, 2014 — The reason that religion or spirituality appears to protect people with a familial risk of depression from developing the illness may be because religion or spirituality thickens the cortices of the brain, Columbia University researchers Lisa Miller, PhD, Myrna Weissman, PhD, and colleagues report in JAMA Psychiatry.

Their study included 103 adults who were either at high familial risk or low familial risk for depression. The importance they placed on religion or spirituality was evaluated at two time points during a five-year period. The thickness of their brain cortices was measured with MRI at the second time point. The researchers found that the brain cortices of subjects who placed a high importance on religion or spirituality were thicker than the brain cortices of those who did not, but that, in addition, the cortices were especially strong in those individuals who placed a high importance on religion or spirituality and who had a high risk of depression.

"This study points to measurable, beneficial effects of presumably healthy spirituality, especially for individuals with biological predispositions to depression," Mary Lynn Dell, MD, told Psychiatric News. The study, she continued, "adds to substantial and growing evidence that psychiatrists should support healthy development in that sphere of patients' lives. Studies such as these may also inform the particular ways and methodologies religious professionals...employ to care for and work with depressed individuals, while at the same time staying true to their particular religious beliefs and traditions."

Commentary

Sr. Vice President, CMDA Gene Rudd, MD: “A single study finding that the cerebral cortex is thicker in people who place a high priority on religion or spirituality obviously requires additional investigation. But it is only one new addition to the large amount of literature linking many positive health outcomes with religion and spirituality. That accumulative data is impressive – more than 1,500 studies and counting.


“So if faith is so good for health, why are we not introducing it more in clinical care? In surveying Christian doctors, we found that the great majority have a desire to engage the spiritual lives of their patients, but the obstacles that prevent them are 1) concerns about time, 2) fear of ethical concerns, and 3) ignorance of how to appropriately do so. Would it surprise you to know that there are excellent answers and solutions to each of these concerns?

“To help Christian doctors overcome the obstacles, effectively engage the spiritual needs of patients and improve overall healthcare delivery, CMDA has developed a curriculum called Grace Prescriptions. Visit www.cmda.org/gracerx to find information as to where and when these seminars will be held in the coming months. While the live seminar experience is the best way to gain this knowledge and skill, we are also developing a video curriculum that can be used by groups in their local communities. The video curriculum is expected to be released by summer 2014.

“As a means of honoring Christ’s command that we be salt and light, and as a means of broadening the scope of healing care for your patients, we hope you will join us in learning how to provide Grace Prescriptions.”

Resources
Grace Prescriptions
Faith and Health

Religious freedom policies needed to protect conscience

Excerpted from "Why religious freedom matters" CNN commentary by Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett, January 16, 2014 - Editor’s note: Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett serve as chairman and vice chairwoman, respectively, of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Supporting religious freedom or belief abroad is not just a legal or moral duty, but a practical necessity that is crucial to the security of the United States – and the world – as it builds a foundation for progress and stability. Research confirms that religious freedom in countries that honor and protect this right is generally associated with vibrant political democracy, rising economic and social well-being, and diminished tension and violence. In contrast, nations that trample on religious freedom are more likely to be mired in poverty and insecurity, war and terror, and violent, radical extremism.

Given the compelling case for supporting religious freedom abroad, why is it still so often given short shrift?

Simply stated, powerful concerns and emotions and differing world views are in play. For example, some people erroneously believe that democratic governance requires the exclusion or marginalization of any public dialogue, debate or policy that includes religion. Others view religion and related issues as exclusively personal and thus belonging solely in private life.

Still others worry that, when connected to an issue, religion generates needless and/or unresolvable tensions and controversies and thus is best left alone, perhaps recalling some of history's worst excesses in religion's name. Some are uncomfortable specifically with "organized religion" and may prefer to frame issues in terms of general spirituality. And some who have an exclusively secular approach and a non-theistic perspective may think that promoting religious freedom infringes on their right not to believe.

What all of these concerns share is the view that religion and religious freedom should be off the radar and divorced from foreign policy.

The answer to such concerns is that advocating for freedom of religion overseas is not about supporting a privileged position for religion, but the right to follow one's conscience. It is about insisting that advocating for religious freedom abroad be viewed in the same way as advocating for other essential rights guaranteed under international law. And, contrary to popular myth, this view encompasses not just the freedom to practice peacefully any religion and all that is associated with it, but the freedom not to believe – the right to reject any and all religion, publicly and privately.

While religious freedom cannot be separated from religion, it is actually less about religion per se than affirming a bedrock, internationally-recognized human right, one that has proven time and again to be a foundational freedom for other freedoms.

Resources

CMDA Right of Conscience Resources

Are doctors burned out?

Is your doctor burned out?," CNN, by Alexandra Sifferlin. August 28, 2012--Job burnout can strike workers in nearly any field, but a new study finds that doctors are at special risk. Nearly 1 in 2 U.S. physicians report at least one symptom of burnout, with doctors at the front line of care particularly vulnerable, the study found -- a significantly higher rate than among the general working population. Overtaxed doctors are not only at risk for personal problems, like relationship issues and alcohol misuse, but their job-related fatigue can also erode professionalism, compromise quality of care, increase medical errors and encourage early retirement -- a potentially critical problem as an aging population demands more medical care.

Led by researchers from the Mayo Clinic and the American Medical Association, the study asked participating physicians to fill out a questionnaire asking about their feelings of burnout -- including "emotional exhaustion" or losing enthusiasm for their work; feelings of cynicism or "depersonalization"; and a low sense of personal accomplishment. The 22-item questionnaire, called the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), is considered the gold standard for measuring burnout; the doctors also completed a shorter, modified version of the MBI, the answers to which researchers used to compare with the general population. Researchers also asked doctors how long they worked each week, how satisfied they were with their work-life balance, and whether they had any symptoms of depression or thoughts of suicide.

The data showed that rates of burnout were high: 45.8 percent of doctors experienced at least one symptom of work-related burnout. "Our finding is concerning given the extensive literature linking burnout to medical errors and lower quality of care," says study author Dr. Tait Shanafelt of the Mayo Clinic. "Most previous studies of physicians from individual specialties have suggested a burnout rate of 30 percent to 40 percent. Thus, the prevalence of burnout among physicians appears to be higher than in the past." In addition, while higher levels of education were associated with less risk of burnout for people in other professions, doctors' advanced degrees didn't afford them the same protection from job-related stress. "While individuals in other professions do experience burnout, it seems to be largely driven by the hours," says Shanafelt. "In addition to their high work hours, there appears to be factors related to the nature of the work that increase the risk for physicians." "Unfortunately, little evidence exists about how to address this problem," the authors write, urging additional research to figure out what can be done to support doctors at the individual, organizational and societal level. "Policy makers and health care organizations must address the problem of physician burnout for the sake of physicians and their patients." Full story can be found here.

Commentary

CMDA Member and Chair of Women in Medicine & Denistry, Leslie Walker, MD: "This important but distressing study on burnout shows the first large sample of U.S. physicians across specialties compared to the general population. The results of the study show that levels of depression (on a two-question online screen) and suicidal ideation were similar to the general population, but that rates of burnout were significantly higher among physicians. "Burnout or depression can occur when we have limited autonomy but high levels of responsibility, especially in unpredictable and punitive systems. Medical internship is one of the best examples, and previous studies linked medical errors by residents to high levels of burnout and depression. In the past, doctors expected more autonomy after residency, along with increasing levels of responsibility, respect from patients and more control over schedules to balance work and personal activities, all of which reduce the risk of burnout. But that’s not necessarily the case today.

"'Treatment' for burnout typically involves taking a break, contemplating one's goals and considering whether the schedule or the type of work should be changed. While I do see physicians who take the time to do this, most burned-out doctors just keep working. The authors suggest reducing burnout may require changing the entire U.S. medical system. However, current suggestions for change are likely to increase burnout. Successful practice is increasingly based not on clinical expertise but on 'outcomes' that have less to do with a doctor's skills and more to do with monitored data in computers.

"Vibrant faith in Christ does not universally prevent burnout, but it does remind us that our identity and worth as God's children have nothing to do with how well we've met a series of benchmarks. As Christians, we gain strength from the body of Christ. If you dread going to work or see patients as just a means to a paycheck, take a break to engage with one of CMDA’s resources such as the Completing Your Call program or Grasping Power through Surrender retreats for women physicians and dentists. Join a local CMDA group where you can pray with like-minded colleagues and consider what changes might help you find joy again in the work God called you to do. This community is one of the best weapons against burnout. It serves as a reminder that you are not alone."

Completing Your Call Symposium
CMDA's Resident Community
Standards4Life: Faith and Health