Newsletter Contents
I. This Story Could Save Your Child
II. Physician Assisted Suicide, Pall Sedation & Informed Consent
III. Digital Divide
IV. Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity (CBHD) annual conference
V. Does transgender medicine for kids need more bioethical scrutiny?
VI. Understanding Gender Dysphoria and Its Treatment in Children and Adolescents
VII. Real Estate for Life
VIII. Call for Nominations for 2020 elections
IX. Immunization - Responsibilities & Rights
X. More Evidence Backs Up Same-Sex Parenting Assessment
XI. Helping Foster Kids by spreading the word
XII. Processing With A Purpose®
XIII. Follow us on Social Media
: Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn
|
|
I. This story could save your child
- a very personal story shared by a member
As a pediatrician, this is probably not something I should be saying in public but the truth is I have misplaced a child before. Actually, more than one of them over the years. The scariest episode was when our now almost 24-year-old son, Greg, was about 6. We were involved with a Catholic father/son group at the time and had just completed a 10 mile walk along the levee in New Orleans (with Greg on my shoulders for most of the trip). We met up with our families in Audubon Park and let the kids play on a jungle gym before walking another mile or so to a nearby church to finish up the trek. My wife had driven separately and had our daughter and toddler with her while my eldest, Casey, and I started strolling down St. Charles Avenue with the other fathers and sons.
They say communication is the key to a good marriage. That particular day my wife and I were definitely not on the same page. Thankfully, she decided to meet up with me at the church before heading home (in those days before everyone and their brother had a cell phone, I shudder to think how this story would have turned out otherwise). All the boys were at the front of church getting a few words of wisdom from our group leader while my wife and I stood in the back chatting. I told her I didn’t see our boy among the crowd and she reassured me that he was no doubt there. Then I got a sinking feeling. “Wait” I said, “he was with you…wasn’t he?” “I thought you had him?” she said (a reasonable assumption…seeing as how he had been with me most of the day). Within seconds I was running out to gather up my boy from the park a mile away. As soon as I got out the door of the church, however, my friend, Jack, had already whipped his car around and told me to “get in!”. When we arrived back at Audubon Park Greg was sobbing in a stranger’s lap. This was followed by plenty of hugs and reassurance. I’m not sure who needed more persuading, however…Greg or the understandably critical good Samaritan who was about to call the police to file a missing child report. To say I was humbled would be an understatement.
Fast forward to this past summer. Home from college for a couple of months, Greg and his youngest brother, Avery, invited me to join them outside for a friendly battle of “who can hold their breath longest in the pool”; a game I had played many times over the years. By the time I had gotten my swimsuit on and made it outside the boys had already started a round and were in the shallow end in the familiar “dead man’s float” position. My wife was serving as timer as she lounged poolside. After what seemed like a significant amount of time my youngest popped up. Unwilling to reveal his results at the time, my wife would later tell me that he had made it almost two minutes. Meanwhile, his older brother was trucking along like a pro and, a while later, let his air out slowly…presumably to gain those few extra seconds and shatter a personal best for breath-holding.
We interrupt this article for a public service announcement: there is such a thing as Shallow Water Blackout…and it’s a killer.
Seriously. My heart goes out to any parent who has come upon a child who has drowned or otherwise met a tragic end. It’s gut-wrenching to say the least. In Greg’s case, however, we once again averted the worst-case scenario. By the time I had walked around the pool to where he had floated to the bottom of the deep end and my wife had asked “is he alright?” I looked down to see my son with wide open, distant eyes. He had passed out while holding his breath. After jumping in the pool and pulling his lifeless body to the surface, my wife and youngest son helped me pull him out of the water (getting a good knock on his noggin in the process). After I hopped out of the water and cradled him in my arms, he let out a haunting groan and held his thumb in the air (I’m still not sure if he was signaling that he was “OK” or that he had set a personal record). The rest of the day he had a splitting headache (lack of oxygen will do that) but he was alive and well and the only other residual effect of the near-tragedy was having to hear his parents beg him over and over: “We almost lost you twice. Please…don’t put us through that again.”
|
|
II. Physician Assisted Suicide, Pall Sedation & Informed Consent
The New Mexico delegation has proposed a new resolution asking that CEJA (Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs) recommend a position of neutrality for the AMA. The New Mexico resolution (pasted below) seeks to push CEJA to alter its report in several ways, including renaming PAS (physician assisted suicide) as PAD (physician aid in dying) and adopting neutrality. It is assigned to the Reference Committee on Constitution and Bylaws along with the CEJA report.
Therefore, please alert delegates to vote AGAINST the New Mexico resolution in addition to voting FOR the CEJA report. And please urge AMA members to go to the AMA’s online forum and submit comments against the New Mexico resolution and for the CEJA report. The New Mexico resolution (Resolution 20) can be accessed here:
https://www.ama-assn.org/forums/house-delegates/committee-amendments-constitution-and-bylaws/resolutions
. AMA members can submit comments by clicking on the link to the resolution. It requires log-in or registration.
|
|
|
|
III. Digital Divide
According to new data provided to me by the American Family Survey, from Deseret News and the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University,
in families headed by two married, biological parents, 49 percent of teens spend less than an hour on screens per day
and only 15.1 percent spend more than three hours
. In
households led by single, divorced or cohabiting parents, 31.9 percent of teenagers spend more than three hours a day on screens. That pattern holds for other forms of media: Teenagers who are growing up in homes with married biological parents are much less likely to spend a great deal of time on social media and video games.
See the full article here at
The Washington Post.
|
|
IV. CBHD annual conference June 20-22, 2019
Join us at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity’s 26th annual summer conference this June,
Taking Care: Perspectives for the End of Life. Hear from leading experts, engage in charitable dialogue, and network with other professionals interested in Christian bioethics. Speakers include Tracy Balboni, MD; John Kilner, PhD; Jon Tilburt, MD; D.A. Carson, PhD; Theo Boer, PhD; Lydia Dugdale, MD; and Patrick Smith, PhD, and ACPeds' own Felipe Vizcarrondo, MD, MA.
Use code PARTNER10 for 10% off your registration. Learn more and register:
cbhd.org/conf2019
|
|
V. Does transgender medicine for kids need more bioethical scrutiny?
From the journal,
BioEdge:
Gender clinics are springing up in many countries to offer counselling and therapy for transgender youth as well as adults. Numbers are hard to come by but an article in The Atlantic last year reported that “Anecdotally... clinicians are reporting large upticks in new referrals, and waiting lists can stretch to five months or longer.”
However, there seems to be a wide gap between clinical practice and research, at least as far as child and adolescent transgender health is concerned. Astonishingly, despite the enormous media presence of transgender issues, little research has been done on the effects of transgender treatment on children and teenagers. On adults, yes. But not on children and teenagers, who are precisely the focus of immense controversy in the media.
See this link to read the rest of the article.
|
|
VI. Understanding Gender Dysphoria and Its Treatment in Children and Adolescents
College member, Monique Robles, MD, in an article at
Public Discourse, shares here experience and concerns with the current protocol in diagnosing and treating gender dysphoria.
As a pediatric critical care physician, I became interested in the topic of gender dysphoria while pursuing further studies in bioethics. Gender dysphoria was not a topic I encountered during my medical school and residency training. I began to wonder: how have over forty gender identity clinics associated with children’s hospitals appeared in just over a decade? See the rest of the article here at
Public Discourse from the Journal of the Witherspoon Institute.
|
|
VII. Before you buy or sell a property - contact Real Estate for Life
|
|
- We find you a local experienced Agent in your neighborhood.
- With their help you successfully complete your residential or commercial Realty transactions.
- A sizable donation is given to support a pro-life organization (such as ACPeds) at absolutely no cost to you!
|
|
VIII. Call for Nominations
In the fall, ACPeds will hold elections for the 2-year term beginning in 2020 so the nominations committee is seeking candidates.
Serving as a board member does not require special qualifications. All Member Fellows, Specialty Fellows, Retired Fellows, and Emeritus Fellows are eligible.
Board members are expected to attend two annual board meetings, called upon to comment or vote on ACPeds activities, an are encouraged to serve on one or more ACPeds committees.
Board members
may also participate in the monthly teleconferenced executive committee meetings. The total time commitment involved in addition to the two weekends is about 5 or 6 hours per month.
Board members generally pay their own expenses to attend the meetings; however, financial assistance is available.
If you or someone you know is interested in serving on the ACPeds Board or you have questions about serving, please contact the office asap but no later than August 15th. Send an email to admin@acpeds.org or call the office at 352-376-1877 and Ronni Ann can have a board member get back to you.
|
|
IX. New Statement: Immunization - Responsibilities & Rights
After receiving member input and votes, the College has published a new statement about vaccines. Please see the statement on the ACPeds website:
Immunization - Responsibilities & Rights.
|
|
X. More Evidence Backs up Same-Sex Parenting Assessment
Professor Walter R. Schumm, author of Wilberforce Publications book
Same-Sex Parenting Research, looks at further studies that have been carried out since the book was published and finds that the research backs up his original conclusions: same-sex parenting
does more harm to children than heterosexual parenting.
|
|
XI. Helping Foster Kids
Nationwide, about 400,000 kids live in foster care, roughly the population of Miami, Florida. Young people enter foster care when the courts determine they need to be temporarily or permanently removed from their current living situation because of challenges at home.
What is the role of a foster family?
A foster family provides a safe, supportive, loving home to child(ren) who have been detained from their families due to substantiated allegations of neglect or abuse. A foster family serves as a safe harbor for children while their family receives family strengthening services, such as counseling and therapy. The goal of foster care is to provide children with a safe, nurturing environment while their parents of origin improve their ability to care for their children remove any threats to the child’s safety and well-being from the environment and, ultimately, reunite with their children.
|
|
XII.
Processing With A Purpose
®
|
|
The American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds)
Board of Directors
is pleased to announce that we have partnered with
Cornerstone Payment Systems
® to bring you the Processing With A Purpose® program. If you own or manage a business that processes credit cards or check transactions of any type, the Processing With a Purpose program may be right for you.
The program, which doesn’t cost anything, helps participants save money on their existing credit card processing guaranteed, and Cornerstone will donate 50% of their profits to the American College of Pediatricians
.
You can visit our custom website at
http://cornerstone.cc/acpeds
to sign up today and take advantage of this unique program, or you may call Cornerstone directly at (888) 506-0208.
|
|
XIII. Follow us on Social Media
Every week the College publishes a new blog on its website and a
link to the blog
is posted on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
|
|
admin@acpeds.org | American College of Pediatricians | 352-376-1877
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
