How Christian Education Shaped My Future as a Physician
Up until medical school, my entire education was within a Christian bubble.
I attended Catholic school from preschool through twelfth grade before enrolling at Baylor University, which is rooted in Baptist tradition. I knew that as soon as I stepped outside of Christian education, the foundation of beliefs and traditions that I was raised on would be challenged.
While at Baylor, I had the opportunity to work with a professor on a two-year thesis project. I chose to explore just how compatible Catholic beliefs were with the current Texas laws surrounding end-of-life care in a project titled “Death with Dignity: The Future of Catholic Healthcare in Texas Regarding End-of-Life Policies.”
During the research process, I learned a lot about my own beliefs, biases, and values, and absolutely still have way more questions than answers about end-of-life care ethical dilemmas. I concluded that ethical issues don’t change based on religion or personal beliefs. Instead, issues surrounding end-of-life decisions, abortion, and euthanasia seemed to be important to everyone, Christian or not. For everyone, these issues seemed to present moral and spiritual challenges that mattered deeply.
Every patient deserves someone who will love and care for them. Laws and government, at times, can make it difficult to be a “good” doctor. Policies can make it tough to uphold personal beliefs. Honestly, working in a field where laws and religions collide is not easy, but I am learning to reconcile conflicting ideas.
When it comes to ethical issues, it doesn’t matter what stance I take. Instead, what matters is my unceasing advocacy for my patients.
When people are old, sick, and dying, who they used to be becomes hard to define. People tend to forget that an old man -- unresponsive in the ICU -- is a son, a father, and a husband; that he had a job, a life, hobbies, passions, and memories. He is not taking up space, he is a person. As future healthcare providers we must never forget that, no matter how compromised a person is, their life still has meaning and worth.
I’ll be honest: You will not leave my presentation with a lot of answers. Instead, I hope you leave feeling encouraged to do some internal homework and soul searching to see just where you stand on issues surrounding end-of life-care so that you can be the best physician you can be to the patients that need you the most.
Ivy Stejskal
Second-Year Osteopathic Medical Student (OMS II)
Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences