Dying Well

2021 ◽  
pp. 163-186
Author(s):  
Courtney S. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Moral Agency ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Right To Die ◽  
Treatment Cessation ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Death With Dignity ◽  
Ethical Choices ◽  
The Church

The most meaningfully charged ethical choices confronted by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) and by LDS medical professionals concern decision-making at the end of life. This chapter examines ethical considerations confronting the LDS community in decisions regarding both forgoing medical life support and in medically assisted dying. LDS teaching has supported a negative right to die from treatment cessation while consistently opposing legalization of a positive right to die through a physician-prescribed medication or administration of a lethal drug. The ecclesiastical emphasis on responsible exercise of moral agency leaves open the prospect for adherents to claim that a version of death with dignity is compatible with LDS ethical principles. Nonetheless, ecclesiastical opposition has extended to opposing specific legislative and citizen referenda advancing patient rights to request a life-ending medication from their physician.

Public Bioethics

2021 ◽  
pp. 187-212
Author(s):  
Courtney S. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Moral Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Square ◽  
Elective Abortion ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
The Church ◽  
Policy Question

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) ecclesiastical policy on health, medical, and moral issues has seldom addressed itself to the healing professions or to questions of public policy, an ethical insularity coherent with the principles of respect for moral agency and trust in the healing vocation of the professions. However, some issues reveal limits to peaceful compromise between ecclesiastical policy with both professional morality and public policy of the secular state and have prompted the LDS Church to forgo ecclesiastical silence and present a public witness of its values and positions on a policy question to a broader civic audience. This chapter focuses on two such examples, elective abortion and medical marijuana. The public square of moral reasoning within LDS teaching is constructed by principles of engaged citizenship, separation, and the moral core.

67. Loving your child to death: Considerations of the care of chronically-ill children and euthanasia in Emil Sher's Mourning Dove and implications for medical educations

2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 65
Author(s):  
K. Mukhida
Keyword(s):  
Life Support ◽  
Terminally Ill ◽  
Chronically Ill ◽  
Legal Aspects ◽  
Mourning Dove ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Constant Pain ◽  
Withdraw Life Support ◽  
Wheat Farmer

How do parents cope when their child is ill or dying, when he or she experiences constant pain or suffering? What do parents think of the contributions that medical professionals make to the care of their chronically or terminally ill child? Is it possible for a parent to love a child so much that the child is wished dead? The purpose of this paper is to explore those questions and aspects of the care of chronically or terminally ill children using Mourning Dove’s portrayal of one family’s attempt to care for their ill daughter. A play written by Canadian playwright Emil Sher, Mourning Dove is based on the case of Saskatchewan wheat farmer Robert Latimer who killed his 12 year old daughter Tracy who suffered with cerebral palsy and lived in tremendous pain. Rather than focusing on the medical or legal aspects of the care of a chronically ill child, the play offers a glimpse into how a family copes with the care of such a child and the effects the child’s illness has on a family. Reading and examination of non-medical literature, such as Mourning Dove, therefore serve as a useful means for medical professionals to better understand how illness affects and is responded to by patients and their families. This understanding is a prerequisite for them to be able to provide complete care of children with chronic or terminal illnesses and their families. Nuutila L, Salanterä S. Children with long-term illness: parents’ experiences of care. J Pediatr Nurs 2006; 21(2):153-160. Sharman M, Meert KL, Sarnaik AP. What influences parents’ decisions to limit or withdraw life support? Pediatr Crit Care Med 2005; 6(5):513-518. Steele R. Strategies used by families to navigate uncharted territory when a child is dying. J Palliat Care 2005; 21(2):103-110.

Utilizing Brief Spiritual Assessments with Clients who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints:

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-44
Author(s):  
Gordon Limb ◽  
David Hodge ◽  
Richard Alboroto
Keyword(s):  
Jesus Christ ◽  
The United States ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Church Culture ◽  
Spiritual Assessment ◽  
Mental Health Settings ◽  
Consistency Strengths ◽  
Growing Churches ◽  
The Church

 In recent years social work has increasingly focused on spirituality and religion as key elements of cultural competency.  The Joint Commission—the nation's largest health care accrediting organization—as well as many other accrediting bodies require spiritual assessments in hospitals and many other mental health settings. Consequently, specific intervention strategies have been fostered in order to provide the most appropriate interventions for religious clients. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest and one of the faster growing churches in the United States.  In an effort to facilitate cultural competence with clients who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ, a brief spiritual assessment instrument was developed.  This mixed-method study asked experts in Church culture (N = 100) to identify the degree of cultural consistency, strengths, and limitations of the brief spiritual assessment instrument. Results indicate that the framework is consistent with Church culture and a number of practice-oriented implications are offered.

The Spiritual Evolution of Margarito Bautista

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Eastwood Pulido
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
The Third ◽  
Book Of Mormon ◽  
The World ◽  
Magnum Opus ◽  
Mormon Church ◽  
Spiritual Conquest ◽  
The Church ◽  
The U.S

A spiritual biography, this book chronicles the journey of Margarito Bautista (1878–1961) from Mormonism to the Third Convention, a Latter-day Saint (Mormon) splinter group he fomented in 1935–1936, to Colonia Industrial/Nueva Jerusalén, a polygamist utopia Bautista founded in 1947. It argues that Bautista embraced Mormon belief in indigenous exceptionalism in 1901 and rapidly rose through the ranks of Mormon priesthood until convinced that the Mormon hierarchy was not invested in the development of native American peoples, as promoted in the Church’s canon. This realization resulted in tensions over indigenous self-governance within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church) and Bautista’s 1937 excommunication. The book contextualizes Bautista’s thought with a chapter on the spiritual conquest of Mexico in 1513 and another on the arrival of Mormons in Mexico. In addition to accounts of Bautista’s congregation-building on both sides of the U.S. border, this volume includes an examination of Bautista’s magnum opus, a 564-page tome hybridizing Aztec history and Book of Mormon narratives, and his prophetic plan for the recovery of indigenous authority in the Americas. Bautista’s excommunication catapulted him into his final spiritual career, that of a utopian founder. In the establishment of his colony, Bautista found a religious home, free from Euro-American oversight, where he implemented his prophetic plan for Mexico’s redemption. His plan included obedience to early Mormonism’s most stringent practices, polygamy and communalism. Bautista nonetheless hoped his community would provide a model for Mexicans willing to prepare the world for Christ’s millennial reign.

scholarly journals Development of the Genealogical FamilySearch Database and Expanding Its Use to Map and Measure Multiple Generations of American Migration

Genealogy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Samuel M. Otterstrom ◽  
Brian E. Bunker ◽  
Michael A. Farnsworth
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Short History ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Genealogical Data ◽  
Migration Flows ◽  
The Church ◽  
Family Trees

Genealogical research is full of opportunities for connecting generations. Millions of people pursue that purpose as they put together family trees that span hundreds of years. These data are valuable in linking people to the people of their past and in developing personal identities, and they can also be used in other ways. The purposes of this paper are to first give a short history of the development and practice of family history and genealogical research in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has developed the FamilySearch website, and second, to show how genealogical data can illustrate forward generation migration flows across the United States by analyzing resulting patterns and statistics. For example, descendants of people born in several large cities exhibited distinct geographies of migration away from the cities of their forebears.

An Examination of the Moral Habitability of Resource-constrained Obstetrical Settings

2021 ◽  
pp. 096973302098831
Author(s):  
Priscilla N Boakye ◽  
Elizabeth Peter ◽  
Anne Simmonds ◽  
Solina Richter
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Workplace Violence ◽  
Moral Agency ◽  
Work Environments ◽  
Professional Relationships ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources ◽  
Childbearing Women ◽  
Nurses And Midwives

Background: While there have been studies exploring moral habitability and its impact on the work environments of nurses in Western countries, little is known about the moral habitability of the work environments of nurses and midwives in resource-constrained settings. Research objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the moral habitability of the work environment of nurses and midwives in Ghana and its influence on their moral agency using the philosophical works of Margaret Urban Walker. Research design and participants: A critical moral ethnography was conducted through the analysis of interviews with 30 nurses and midwives, along with observation, and documentary materials. Ethical considerations: After receiving ethics approval, signed informed consent was obtained from participants before data collection. Results: Five themes were identified: (1) holding onto the values, identities, and responsibilities of being a midwife/nurse; (2) scarcity of resources as limiting capacity to meet caring responsibilities; (3) gender and socio-economic inequities shaping the moral-social context of practice; (4) working with incoherent moral understandings and damaged identities in the context of inter- and intra-professional relationships; and (5) surviving through adversity with renewed commitment and courage. Discussion: The nurses and midwives were found to work in an environment that was morally uninhabitable and dominated by the scarcity of resources, overwhelming and incoherent moral responsibilities, oppressive conditions, and workplace violence. These situations constrained their moral agency and provoked suffering and distress. The nurses and midwives negotiated their practice and navigated through morally uninhabitable work environment by holding onto their moral values and commitments to childbearing women. Conclusion: Creating morally habitable workplaces through the provision of adequate resources and instituting interprofessional practice guidelines and workplace violence prevention policies may promote safe and ethical nursing and midwifery practice.

scholarly journals Not a Country or a Stereotype: Latina LDS Experiences of Ethnic Homogenization and Racial Tokenism in the American West

Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 333
Author(s):  
Brittany Romanello
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Immigrant Incorporation ◽  
White Family ◽  
1.5 Generation ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
The Us ◽  
Lds Church ◽  
Progressive Policy ◽  
The Church

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), also called Mormonism, has experienced rapid changes in its US demographics due to an influx of Latinx membership. The most recent growth in the US church body has been within Spanish-speaking congregations, and many of these congregant members are first or 1.5-generation immigrant Latinas. Using ethnographic data from 27 interviews with immigrant members living in Utah, Nevada, and California, LDS Latinas reported that while US Anglo members did seem to appreciate certain aspects of their cultural customs or practices, they also reported frequently experiencing ethnic homogenization or racial tokenization within US Church spaces and with White family members. Our findings indicate that the contemporary LDS church, despite some progressive policy implementations within its doctrinal parameters, still struggles in its ever-globalizing state to prioritize exposing White US members to the cultural heterogeneity of non-White, global LDS identities and perspectives. Latina LDS experiences and their religious adjacency to Whiteness provide a useful lens by which researchers can better understand the ways in which ethnic identity, gender, legal status, and language create both opportunities and challenges for immigrant incorporation and inclusion within US religious spaces and add to the existing body of scholarship on migration and religion.

Attitudes toward Mormons and Voter Behavior in the 2012 Presidential Election

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Active Member ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

AbstractPrior to the 2012 presidential election, some commentators speculated that Mitt Romney's status as a devout and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would undermine his presidential aspirations. Using the 2012 American National Election Survey, this study examines the relationship between attitudes toward Mormons and voter behavior in the United States in that election year. It finds that attitudes toward Mormons had a statistically-significant effect on turnout — though these effects differed according to party identification. It additionally finds that these attitudes influenced vote choice. In both cases, the substantive effects were small, indicating that anti-Mormon feelings did play a role in the 2012 presidential election, but they did not determine the final outcome.

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