Prelate encourages integrity in medical practice

(Nov.03,2010) The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Ministry has underlined the need for integrity in all professionals, especially medical doctors. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski made the call in a message sent for the annual educational conference of the Catholic Medical Association in Seattle, Washington, U.S. The theme of the recent conference was "Restoring the Integrity of Medicine: The Imperative for a Christian Anthropology.
The prelate affirmed that today, restoring integrity is a felt need in all professions but it becomes more categorical when it concerns a profession that deals with human life and health. He noted that progress in the biological and medical sciences has opened up a wide range of effective therapeutic possibilities and the variety of possibilities, exposes man to the temptation of going beyond the limits of reasonable dominion over nature. It is therefore important to remember, that scientific research and its application, ought to be given moral evaluation in reference to the dignity of the human person," he added.
Archbishop Zimowski affirmed that as Catholic health care professionals, they should be well aware that life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God, and they must take reasonable care of them. The practice of medicine cannot be isolated from this truth, he concluded.