“If You’re Not at the Table, You’re on the Menu”

I cannot take credit for the quote used for the title of this column. That goes to a long-time Catholic Medical Association (CMA) member and leader that I met soon after joining the organization many years ago. Since then, we have witnessed an accelerating promotion of unethical interventions by secular medical organizations: abortion, assisted suicide, transgender interventions, and others. For those who oppose such methods, like CMA, frustration is appropriate. It is understandably discouraging to see American health care devolve into an increasingly utilitarian, corporate, and depersonalized system.

How does that relate to the “table/menu” metaphor? It is quite simple. Decisions made by groups are the result of those who attend the meeting and speak their mind. If opposing voices are absent, the organization is more likely to adopt policies and positions that are not acceptable to those who are absent. It is as true in medicine as in business or politics.

The decline of ethical medicine over the past several decades is certainly a result of many factors. As seen with the American Medical Association (AMA), there has been a progressive decline in membership over the same period of time. In the 1960s, nearly 75% of American physicians were AMA members. Today that number stands at approximately 15%. The question we must ask that is pertinent to Catholic medicine is this: “Who are those 15%?”

Physicians have been leaving secular medical organizations for a variety of reasons: too busy, too expensive, and for CMA members, too unethical. Those and others are understandable motives to leave the organization behind. However, those departures lead to unchecked courses of action by the members who remain. If that faction is in positions of leadership and is not committed to moral medicine then support for abortion, assisted suicide, and other abominations will grow.

The need for all health care professionals to remain engaged in secular professional organizations is more important now than ever. That is understandably difficult for some CMA members to accept. A common response is, “I won’t give my money to an organization that promotes (insert unethical procedure here)!”  What is important to recognize is that without voices from us and our like-minded colleagues committed to life and human dignity, secular groups will continue their slide into the moral abyss. And our society will suffer even more as a result.

It would be a major step for CMA members to join their secular professional organizations in large numbers and speak out for their beliefs. Even more important would be the purposeful pursuit of leadership positions in those organizations. There is indeed strength in numbers, and a commitment to what one believes in will attract others to the cause. In addition, it will inform secular members who have not been exposed to ethical medicine principles to alternative, and better, perspectives.

Your decision to become involved in this effort has immediate importance. This June, the AMA is expected to debate assisted suicide – again – at its Annual Meeting in Chicago. Only AMA members are allowed to submit written comments or provide testimony at reference committee meetings. Just imagine if CMA physicians join the AMA in large numbers and produce an avalanche of comments? We could change the trajectory of American medicine for the better.  Finally. 

If you are not a member of your secular professional organization, please prayerfully consider joining, whether that is AMA, AAP, or any other group that lacks voices of ethical reason. Then use the Apostles’ example to advance Catholic values in your interactions. Even better, find leadership positions that will amplify your voice and impact. We still have time to return secular medicine to its previously respected and moral place in society. It is time for each of us to pull a chair up to the table and write our own menu.