Abbreviations:
(MWD)= Meriam-Webster Online Dictionary (2005)
(SMD25)=Stedman's Medical Dictionary 25th Edition (1990)
(SMD27)=Stedman's Medical Online Dictionary 27th Edition (2006)
(MY) =MY Generalized Definition (also see The
Catechism of the Catholic Church (www)
All definitions below are taken from the (MWD) unless otherwise specified:
Abortion: The termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or
closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.
Abortifacient: An agent (as a drug) that induces abortion.
Acts of Omission: The act of not acting that has an anticipated result.
Acts of Comission: To act, helping to cause an anticipated result.
Advanced Directive: Advanced Directives are a form of a living will which may
also specify a durable power of attorney This is
a document written in advance of your death that spells out the particulars of
what you want or do not want in the way of medical care if you become
incapacitated. It may specify a particular person or physician(s) (durable power of attorney) to make the decisions
in your behalf should you become incapacitated to do so.
Assisted reproductive Technologies(MY): Technological methods (ART) used to assist
reproduction.
Autonomy: The concept of what makes one’s life one’s own by personal preferences
and choices. At the end of life, i.e., choosing or forgoing various types of
medical care.
Basal Body Temperature (BBT): body temperature in the morning before rising or moving about or eating anything.
Carnal: Relating to or given to crude bodily pleasures and appetites, with
absence of the spiritual or intellectual.
Cervical Mucus Changes: Change in the mucous discharge from the cervix from sticky to more copious, stretchable, and slippery which can be observed to herald the onset of ovulation.
Cervical Sign: Softening, elevation, and slight opening of the cervix (os) which can be used as a heralding sign of the onset of ovulation.
Chastity: Abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse, purity in conduct and
intention.
Conception:
(MY): The fertilization of the egg by a sperm.
(MWD): The process of
becoming pregnant involving fertilization or implantation.
(SMD25): Fertilization of the oocyte by
the spermatazoon.
(SMD27): Act of conceiving; the
implantation of the blastocyte in the endometrium.
Conceptus: A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus
Concupiscence: Strong desire; especially sexual desire
Conjugal chastity: (MY): The married sexual act/conjugal act as a
physical/spiritual union (The unitive/procreative connection).
Consequentialist arguments: Arguments whose nature is of a secondary result (MY:
whose logic points mostly to the end results).
Contraceptive: An agent that prevents conception. (MY): Contra-against;
inception-the beginning
Dead Donor Rule: Organ retrieval/donation cannot be the cause of death. Suicide becomes unethical for
the purpose of donation, the killing of prisoners for organs, or the taking of vital organs before a person is truly dead.
Double effect (MY): This applies to an act that can have both a good and bad
effect, such as pain control that can alleviate pain but can accidentally kill.
To be ethical it needs to meet 4 criteria:
1. The action taken is good or morally neutral.
2. The bad effect must not be intended, but only permitted.
3. The good effect cannot be brought about by means of the bad effect.
4. There is a grave reason to perform the act and thereby risk the bad effect.
Embryo (SMD25): Organism from conception until about 8 weeks
Euthanasia(SMD27): 1. Painless, happy death 2. The intentional putting to
death of a person with an incurable or painful disease intended as an act of
mercy
Extraordinary medical care(also termed disproportionate)(MY): Care that is not
considered ordinary, it is beyond the ordinary, thus it is not considered
morally obligatory (it is not required care). Some criteria to qualify for
extraordinary medical care include:
1. Incurs an excessive burden such as:
a. Financial expense is
high
b. Huge emotional strain
c. Pain of the procedure
d. Religious beliefs
opposing the care
2. It fails to offer a reasonable chance of curing the
patient.
Fertility rate: Roughly speaking, the average number of children born per woman
per lifetime.
Fertilization: The process of union of two gametes whereby…the development of a
new individual is initiated.
Fetus(SMD27): The product of conception from the end of the 8th week until birth.
Formal cooperation (in evil)(MY): Direct cooperation, such as performing an
abortion or having one preformed on yourself.
Futile Care Theory: Care defined as ‘inappropriate’ by some. Requests for
treatment, even those in ‘living wills’ can be disregarded if the patient’s life
is deemed ‘lacking quality’ or the treatment determined to likely be ‘futile’.
Genocide: The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or
cultural group coined by Raphael Lemkin (genos-Greek for family, cide-Latin for
kill).
Implantation: The process of attachment of the embryo to the maternal uterine
wall(occurring 6-7 days after fertilization).
Infertility: A woman under 35 has not conceived after 12 months of contraceptive-free intercourse.
Intracytoplasmic sperm injection(MY): (ZIFT) Sperm injected into an egg.
Intrauterine insemination(SMD27): (IUI) Placement of sperm that have been washed
of seminal fluid directly into the uterus to bypass the cervix.
In vitro fertilization(SMD27): (IVF) A process whereby (usually multiple)
ova are placed in a medium to which sperm are added for fertilization.
Health Care Proxy: Person(s) named to legally decide on medical decisions about
your health should you become incapacitated.
Hospice Care: Specialized care for the dying; from medieval “hospitality”-“a
place of shelter or rest for weary or ill travelers on a long journey”.
Justice: Righteousness, impartiality, fairness, penalty as deserved.
Just war doctrine(MY): The aspects that need to be present to call a war just.
(link)
Material cooperation (in evil)(MY): Indirect cooperation, such as renting out
space for an abortion clinic.
Mercy: Refraining from harming offenders; kindness in excess of what may be
expected by fairness.
Moral Act: To be good every moral act must satisfy three elements:
1. The act itself must be good.
2. The intention of the one doing it must be good.
3. The circumstances must be appropriate.
Natural Family Planning Methods (NFP)(see Periodic Continence): The main NFP methods include Basal Body Temperature (BBT), Ovulation Method (OM-Billings),
and Sympto-Thermal Method (STM):
1. Basal Body Temperature (BBT): Using a the ovulation rise in the body temperature in the morning before rising or
moving about or eating anything to determine the fertile time.
2. Ovulation Method (OM-Billings): Uses the changes in cervical mucus discharge to determine the fertile time.
3. Sympto-Thermal (STM): Combines both the BBT, OM methods, and sometimes adds physical chnages in the cervix
to determine the fertile time.
Non-Obligatory Medical Treatment: Treatment that is not ethically required to
be given
Obligatory Medical Treatment: Treatment that is ethically required to be given.
Ordinary medical care(also termed Proportionate)(MY): A natural means of
treatment or preserving life, not a medical act, thus is morally obligatory
(required). Food and water (except in the terminal state) are considered morally
required, even if administered by a feeding tube. Care is mandatory it has all
the following criteria:
1. Reasonable chance of curing the patient or assisting
in a cure.
2. It does not carry a significant risk of death.
3. It does, not in and of itself, present an excessive
burden.
Pearl Index: The Pearl index can be either 12 months or 13 menstrual cycles and is the number of surprise pregnancies in those periods of time:
1. Actual use includes all pregnancies in the months (cycles) of exposure.
2. Perfect use is only pregnancies in the months (cycles) of exposure where the method was used perfectly.
3. Imperfect use is only Pregnancies in the months (cycles) of exposure where at least one of the rules was broken.
Periodic Continence: The methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods for sexual activity.
Pregnancy(SMD25): The condition of a female after conception until the birth of
the baby.
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis(MY): (PGD) Involves the sampling of fetal
cells to decide which embryos to allow to survive.
Procreative (aspect of sex/marital act)(MY): The part of the sexual act
involving reproduction, ‘in God’s image’.
Scandal: Indignation, chagrin, or bewilderment brought about by a flagrant
violation of morality, propriety, or religious opinion (MY): attitude or
behavior that leads others to do evil.
Sin: State of human nature in which the self is estranged from God.
Selective Embryo Reduction: Human embryos are selectively killed because of sex, number reduction, or genetic defects. Often used in In-Vitro Fertilization when more than one embryo survives.
Stem cell: An unspecialized cell that gives rise to differentiated cells.
Adult stem cell: Those cells taken from adult cells.
Embryonic stem cells: Those cells
taken from an embryo, requiring its destruction.
Terminal Sedation/Pain control: Medications carefully chosen close to the time
of death to make a patient comfortable. Those with euthanasia mentality use
these situations to legally overdose patients to death. Virtuous, palliative
pain control fits within the overriding criteria of the ‘double effect’.
Unitive (aspect of sex/marital act)(MY): The part of the conjugal act that
‘binds’, joins a couple together as 'one flesh'.