Bioethical Issues and the Family

Contents: Foreword/William E. May. Appreciation: "Bioethical Issues and the Family" - a relevant theme/Archbishop Joseph Powathil. General introduction/Joseph Alencherry and Scaria Kanniyakonil. Acknowledgement. Abbreviations. I. Family: the victim of biomedical experimentations/Joseph Alencherry. II. Contraception and the "Culture of Death"/William E. May: Introduction. 1. Pope John Paul II on contraception and the "Culture of Death". 2. Contraception vs "Recourse to the Rhythm of the Cycle". 3. Contraception: an anti-life act. 4. Contraception: both anti-love and anti-life. III. The morality of contraception/Jacob Koippally: Introduction. 1. Magisterial teachings on the intrinsic evil of contraception. 2. Contraception in the theological discussions. 3. Conclusion. IV. Certain moral considerations on in vitro fertilization and related issues/Hormis Mynatty: Introduction. 1. Bifurcation of sexuality and reproduction. 2. Infertility. 3. Methods of assisted reproduction. 4. Different types of IVF. 5. Ethical consideration on IVF-ET. 6. Moral theological discussion on homologous IVF (IVF-H). 7. Morality of Heterologous IVF-ET (IVF-D). 8. Biomedical procedures related IVF. 9. Attempts to regulate infertility clinics in India. V. The catholic view of human life and abortion/Thomas Srampickal: 1. Catholic view of human life. 2. Abortion: issues and problems. 3. An integral approach and the teaching of the church. 4. Certain questions and clarifications. VI. Scientific and ethical evaluations of human cloning/R.P. Vincent: Introduction. 1. Scientific benefits. 2. Ethical difficulties. 3. Scientific and ethical evaluations. 4. Conclusion. VII. Morality of therapeutic cloning/Aleyamma Abraham: Introduction. 1. Morality of cloning in Catholic teaching. 2. Morality of cloning in the opinion of theologians. 3. Human embryonic therapy. 4. Human adult stem cell therapy. VIII. Human genome project and gene therapy/Felix Podimation: Introduction. 1. The Human Genome Project (HGP). 2. Gene therapy. 3. A theological problem. IX. Genetic privacy and the family: a moral theological approach/Kris Dierickix: 1. The Human Genome Project. 2. Has genetic information a specific character? 3. Anticipating the problem. 4. Three positions. 5. Conclusion. X. An ethical appraisal of living organ donation and transplantation/Scaria Kanniyakonil: Introduction. 1. Present state of living organ donation and transplantation. 2. Medical and legal aspects. 3. Moral and theological debate. 4. Opinions of other major religions. 5. Bioethical debate. 6. Virtue of charity. 7. Conclusion. XI. Euthanasia, assisted suicide and the care of the dying/William E. May: Introduction. 1. Clarifying the terminology. 2. The ethics of euthanasia. 3. The critique of the ethics of euthanasia. 4. The ethics of Benemortasia. XII. General conclusion: bioethical issues and the identity of the family/Jose Noriega Bastos: 1. Presentation of the problem. 2. The place where life is received: the family. 3. Therapeutic alliance and the family. 4. The meaning of medical action. 5. The family; sanctuary of life. The contributors. Index.