Catholic Medical Ethics

The basic principle informing the Catholic view of advances in medicine is that we may use any aid to health that preserves or restores the natural functions of the body but we may not use any means that are contrary to the nature of the body.

Examples of Licit Therapies

• medicine
  • pain relief
  • promotion of fertility
• surgery
  • pain relief
  • correction of injuries
  • restoration of tissues, limbs, ligaments, etc.
  • cosmetic surgery (so long as the cost is proportional to one's income)
  • removal of cancerous growths and afflicted organs (hysterectomy [removal of ovaries], orchiectomy [removal of testicles])
• blood transfusions
• glasses
• dentistry
• hearing aids
• use of adult stem cells in research and therapy

Examples of Illicit Techniques

• artificial methods of birth control: barrier methods, anti-implantation devices, tubal ligation, vasectomy
• in vitro fertilization
• euthanasia
• abortion
• cloning or other direct genetic engineering
• use of fetal tissue in research and therapy

The Principle of Double Effect

If a particular therapy is intended to save the life of a person, it is licit, even if as a side-effect the therapy causes the death of a baby in the womb or renders the person sterile afterward.