Catholic health assembly looks at what promotes ethical decisions

Published: 2004-06-09

CHICAGO (CNS) -- Corporate scandals. The clerical sexual abuse crisis. The dilemmas posed by stem-cell research, genetic manipulation and other emerging biotechnologies. The squeezing of funds for Medicaid and other public health programs. Catholic hospitals and other health care organizations face these issues and the ethical questions they raise every day. More than 1,100 leaders in Catholic health care gathered in Chicago June 6-9 at the Catholic Health Association's 89th national assembly to discuss ethical integrity in decision-making. "We are going to speak about ethics in many of our sessions during the coming days," said Auxiliary Bishop Edwin M. Conway of Chicago, who celebrated the opening liturgy. "What drives us to be people of ethical behavior? The very fact that we are made in God's image and likeness," he said, adding that this creates a responsibility to others, because each person is made in God's image and likeness.

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