The Winds of Change
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The winds of change are surely blowing across America. As Americans are fixated on the economic instability sweeping across our land, immoral agendas are corroding the foundations of our society. "Fair is foul and foul is fair/Hover through the fog and filthy air." (McBeth - Act I scene i. line 10)
I travel extensively across the South with missionary and pro-life work and have held Respiratory Licenses in numerous states so that when I travel, I can work in Respiratory or Cardiopulmonary in these various states. Last week, I was called into the Arkansas State Board of Medical Examiners. This meeting had nothing to do with the practice of Respiratory Therapy or Cardiopulmonary technology or my practice of these disciplines over the last 28 years. The sole purpose of this meeting was over the "A" word.
Before they would give me my license in Arkansas, they wanted to be sure I would not let my staunch defense of life interfere with their agenda. This would seem to be to silence pro-lifers even in Catholic hospitals. After a barrage of questions introduced to label me as a pro-life fanatic unfit to work in any hospital in Arkansas, a member of the Board jumped up and said, "Would you try to talk anyone out of an abortion? We've actually had a few doctors who had the nerve to try to talk their patients out of an abortion." In answer to their questions, I simply replied, "I only work in Catholic hospitals which do not allow or perform abortions, so this is not an issue." In response, they said I will be seeing patients who weren't Catholic and those who had obtained an abortion and they didn't want me talking to them about the "A" word. So much for freedom of speech and freedom of religion in Catholic Hospitals.
It would constitute medical malpractice not to inform any patient of the adverse, harmful or deleterious effects of any medical procedure. This is called Informed Consent. It would be totally illogical not to inform a patient of the harm done to body and soul by this procedure except that surgical or chemical abortion is nothing other than the murdering of an innocent baby in his mother's womb; it wouldn't constitute a medical procedure so on these grounds no pre-op would be legally necessary.
A wise friend advised me to practice fortitude and be prudent like St. Thomas Moore when answering the Arkansas State Board's questions. I told him afterward that St. John the Baptist shouted from the rooftops while St. Thomas Moore practiced fortitude and prudence. Yet they both lost their heads. Precluding freedom of speech and freedom of conscience have never been a prerequisite for obtaining a Respiratory Therapy license in the past.
The winds of change are surely blowing and Obama is the windbag.
Richard Mahoney
