New York Cultural Center
HUMAN AFFAIRS
Dialogues on events
that shape our world
Dialogues on events
that shape our world
MEMORY AND IDENTITY
Exploring our heritage
Testing our tradition
Exploring our heritage
Testing our tradition
BEAUTY WILL SAVE
THE WORLD
Discovering the world
of arts: performances
and presentations
THE WORLD
Discovering the world
of arts: performances
and presentations
MEETINGS AT
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
THE CROSSROADS
Face to face with...
"Certainly there were many
evils that
the men of ancient times
suffered.
But there were, however, the
men of wisdom.
These would teach to other
men the principle
of mutual cohabitation and
of mutual support.
These wise ones chose their
rulers and teachers.
They put to flight the reptiles,
serpents and wild beasts,
and they established man's
primacy.
For those who were cold,
they made clothes;
for those who were hungry,
they prepared food;
for those who lived in trees ...
or in caves ... they made
houses.
They instructed the workers
that they might make utensils;
the merchants that they
might trade things
that they had or of which
they were lacking;
the doctors who would use
the medicines ...
They inculcated recognition
toward benefactors;
they instituted norms that
would assign each to his
proper place.
They created music that
would dissipate the sadness
built up in the
heart,
the government that would
give a shock to negligence,
the punishments that would
break down obstinance.
And since men were
cheating one another
the wise ones dictated to
them...
bushels, liters, weights and
scales in order that they keep
faith in
selling.
And now there are those who
say:
"let's smash these bushels, let's
smash these scales
and then the people won't
have anything to argue
about anymore."
Han Yu (768-824 B.C.),
Fragments of Chinese Doctrine
evils that
the men of ancient times
suffered.
But there were, however, the
men of wisdom.
These would teach to other
men the principle
of mutual cohabitation and
of mutual support.
These wise ones chose their
rulers and teachers.
They put to flight the reptiles,
serpents and wild beasts,
and they established man's
primacy.
For those who were cold,
they made clothes;
for those who were hungry,
they prepared food;
for those who lived in trees ...
or in caves ... they made
houses.
They instructed the workers
that they might make utensils;
the merchants that they
might trade things
that they had or of which
they were lacking;
the doctors who would use
the medicines ...
They inculcated recognition
toward benefactors;
they instituted norms that
would assign each to his
proper place.
They created music that
would dissipate the sadness
built up in the
heart,
the government that would
give a shock to negligence,
the punishments that would
break down obstinance.
And since men were
cheating one another
the wise ones dictated to
them...
bushels, liters, weights and
scales in order that they keep
faith in
selling.
And now there are those who
say:
"let's smash these bushels, let's
smash these scales
and then the people won't
have anything to argue
about anymore."
Han Yu (768-824 B.C.),
Fragments of Chinese Doctrine
A place where roads meet. A time of change.
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| WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE SICK? A Discussion on the Foundations for Genuine Health Care Reform (in collaboration with St. Vincent’s Hospital and Medicina e Persona) Speakers: Dr. Edmund D. PELLEGRINO Chairman of the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics Dr. Peter STEINFELS New York Times Religion Columnist Dr. Daniel P. SULMASY Director of the Bioethics Institute, NY Medical College Ms. Marilyn WIENER Registered Nurse, Columbia Presbyterian Hospital Thursday, November 1, 2007 at 6:30 pm St. Vincent’s Hospital Auditorium 170 West 12th Street, New York |
| ABOUT THE CONFERENCE This discussion is co-sponsored by the Crossroads New York Cultural Center and by Medicine and the Person. Crossroads has been organizing public discussions and other events in New York for a few years now (you can find the Fall 2007 program on your chair). Medicine and the Person... (ADD DESCRIPTION). Both Crossroads and Medicine and the Person find their origin in the life of Communion and Liberation, the Catholic movement started by Msgr. Luigi Giussani over fifty years ago. Health care reform, as we all know, is a short phrase that in reality refers to a large set of complex issues. It requires both solving many complex technical problems in public policy and reconciling many powerful political interests. As such, it is the domain of a particular class of "experts" who are able to master the intricate relationships between health care providers, patients, employers, government agencies, insurance companies and so on. What motivated us, both as Catholics and as health care professionals, to organize today's discussion is not that we presume to have anything to teach the experts regarding either the technical or the political sides of health care reform. Rather, if there is a contribution we feel we can make, it is precisely to point out that health care is one issue that ultimately cannot be reduced just to a set of technical and political problems, even though this is a very tempting (and common) approach. The reason is simple: all technical and political questions in health care ultimately have to do with human beings, and people cannot (or should not) be reduced to technical and political "problems." Many of us who are doctors or nurses or hospital administrators know how the "human side" is an inextricable part of our profession. For many of us, it is in fact the most fascinating part of our profession, and what attracted us to it in the first place. For this reason, we know that whenever the health industry looks at patients in the same way the automotive industry looks at cars, something is terribly wrong. Mind you, it is not only wrong in some abstract sense. It is also wrong in the sense that it is going to undermine the system in the long run. It is impossible to have good medical care if physicians are not trained to look at the whole person of the patient, and if the relationship between the doctor and the patient is sacrificed on the altar of mechanical efficiency. It is impossible to come up with fair solutions to pay for healthcare costs without valuing the human relationships and communities that can support the system when the state and the corporate world will fall short. It is impossible to make the hard choices required by new and expensive technologies on purely technical grounds, without having a clear sense of what the ultimate problem is, that is: what is a human being? What is the value of human life? What is the value of health, and is anything even more important than health? We think that these larger questions do impact how we approach health care reform, and that we should remind each other of them from time to time. In this sense, what we are proposing tonight is a discussion of method. Not how to solve the technical and political problems, important as they are, but to have clear criteria to guide the work so that the health systems may serve real people, not some abstraction. |
