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Tribune-Herald - April 03, 2012New Search
Waco Tribune-Herald (TX) - Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Author: MICHAEL ATTAS
Last
week I was invited to speak at Belmont University by Dr. Todd Lake, the former
chaplain at Baylor University. The title of the lecture he asked me to give was
“Christian Health Care.”
I thought at first glance it would be relatively easy to put together. I
consider myself more or less a Christian and I practice in a community that has
two faith-based hospitals.
But the deeper I got into the topic the harder and more elusive it became.
How does one even begin to define the terms? Is it an adjective or a noun? Does
a Christian health care system necessarily embody the teachings of Jesus? Can a
health care provider who claims to be a follower of Christ yet refuses to
provide care for the indigent or MedicareMedicaid patients be labeled a
“Christian physician”?
Can a country that is rushing to proclaim its Christian heritage in an election
year but ignores the reality of 25 percent of its population honestly trumpet
its Christian beliefs? Can a devout, gentle Muslim or Hindu who gives his or
her time to health care for the poor, as many of my premedical students do, be
considered an anonymous “Christian”?
Unpopular answers
The answers to these and similar questions drove me deep into the wells of my
beliefs and practice. And the answers that I shared with the students at
Belmont are ones that I would propose we all take a moment to reflect on.
And I fully understand that they may not be popular.
Here are some simple observations gleaned from 40 years in medicine and
practice in both faith-based and private, for-profit hospitals.
As it pertains to the delivery of good health care, Christian faith must embody
more than a set of doctrinal beliefs or mission statements. It has to be more
than a charter and a tax status. It must be a living, breathing model upon
which to encounter human brokenness.
Some faith-based hospitals and systems to this well; others do not. That is
reality. Some for-profit hospitals and systems do this well; others do not.
That is also reality.
Some physicians embody the teachings of Jesus but would be appalled at being
labeled Christians. That also is reality. Others claim to be followers of
Christ and are dysfunctional human beings driven by profit and greed. That also
is reality.
Some totally secular, western, industrialized countries embody what I would
consider Christian practices and yet are decidedly not Christian. And some
countries that proclaim such faith are models of corruption and corporate
greed.
So where does this ambiguity lead us?
I told my audience at Belmont that to be considered a “Christian” model for
health care, a provider should give more than lip service to three cardinal
virtues.
Compassion, wisdom
The first is compassion. Simply put, a system or provider must care deeply
about what it is doing and how it does it. Compassion literally means “to
suffer with.” It means that we must be willing to take the suffering of our
patients and their loved ones seriously.
We must listen to their stories and walk with them through the confusing myriad
options they face.
Compassion is more than an emotional feeling. It is a movement that forces us
to act in certain ways consistent with our proclaimed beliefs. It is action and
not a touchy-feely, naive sense of concern, but a moral compass that moves us
to actions based on faith.
Secondly, a system must be wise. This doesn’t mean we have all the answers as
much as it means we must be good stewards of our resources. We are called to be
financially conservative and accountable for our future while we provide the
health care that we know we have the power and knowledge to do.
Wisdom is different than facts wielded with power and success. Some physicians
have this innately at a young age; others never will.
And unfortunately it has nothing at all to do with a given religious belief
system. It can be modeled and taught but until it is lived it is nothing but
chaff in the wind.
And just as individuals are called to wisdom, systems and governments are also
called to an accountability based on the virtue of wisdom.
Thirdly a practice or system must be just. From a biblical sense and through
the eyes of Jesus, justice is more than a sense of fair play. It is more than a
casual glance at a system’s vision statement, but embodies the very notion of
the Judeo-Christian understanding of God and God’s kingdom.
One writer said it succinctly: “Biblical justice involves making individuals,
communities and the cosmos whole by upholding goodness and impartiality.”
Thus healing — which is what we are called to participate in — is always
grounded in justice. True healing in this sense is not about curing and it is
not about the use of science indiscriminately. It is about wholeness in the
human condition and it applies to us one and all.
Can we as healers embody these virtues as the tides of medicine change? I am
not sure at all. I think it will require a drastic re-evaluation of what the
phrase “Christian health care” truly implies as a core principle.
We shall see.
Dr. Michael Attas is a Waco-based physician, a medical humanities professor and
an Episcopal priest. His column appears biweekly. Send email to
Michael_Attas@baylor.edu.
Section: accesswaco
Record Number: 18270950
(c) 2012 Robinson Media Co. LLC - Waco Tribune-Herald
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