4
of related issues, such as informed consent, abortion, termination-of-treatment,
euthanasia, and cloning.
2
It is fair to say, however, that these four principles in essence
can be understood to affirm the right of an individual to make personal health care
decisions, uphold the duty of health care professionals to do what is "good" for others
while avoiding "harm," and to promote an overall sense of fairness in the distribution of
available resources (Idziak 2000, 239). Other principles, such as honesty and truth telling
can likewise be interpreted in such a way as to be compatible with our religious
moorings.
As evangelicals we are concerned not only with religious contributions to modern
medical ethics, but also with the direct teachings of Scripture on these matters. A good
place to start is by introducing biblical passages that speak to the sanctity of life. In Gen
9:1, 5-6, for example, the preservation and care of human life is set within the context of
God's covenant with Noah, "And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an
accounting.... Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in
the image of God has God made man." The biblical writer connects the sanctity of life
with the creation of human beings in the Imago Dei.
One of the more beautiful and poetic descriptions of the importance of life can be
read in Psalm 139:13-16:
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's
womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
physician frustration, and family struggles with mortality (Barry Furrow, "Medical Futility: Benefit vs.
Burden," a seminar in Norristown, PA, May 16, 2001).
2
Cohen, "Distributive Justice," 1.