5th
June 2001
At a U.S. medical school, Prof. L. R. Agnew posed this
question to his students: “Here’s the family history. The father has syphilis; the mother has tuberculosis.
They have already had four children.
The first one is blind, the second one died.
The third is deaf; the fourth has tuberculosis.
The mother is pregnant with her fifth child.
The parents are willing to have an abortion if you decide they should.
What do you think?” Most
of the students decided on abortion. Prof.
Agnew said, “Congratulations! You
have just killed Beethoven.”
Abortion
was one of many issues Tom recently addressed in the
course on medical ethics he teaches to final-year medical students.
Though abortion remains illegal in Nigeria, many medical doctors
nevertheless engage in this lucrative practice, because the law is not
enforced. Most Nigerian doctors
have never been instructed in medical ethics.
In the ethics course Tom covered various ethical
approaches, including biblical medical ethics.
Just as natural laws govern the physical sciences, biblical ethics
relies on absolute moral precepts God has revealed to mankind created in His
image. These precepts include the
sanctity of human life, love for our neighbor, God’s design for marriage,
the meaning of death, personhood and our relationship with God.
Because God is the source of truth, principles from His Word are
universal and apply to all people, at all times, and in all situations.
Tom’s students debated ethical issues by using specific
ethical systems to address critical questions: Is the embryo a person?
Is there a life that is 
not worth living?
Should we promote condoms to prevent HIV?
Should an infertile couple use the sperm or egg from a third party?
Is it right to use genetic selection to choose the traits of our
offspring?
After the course, Tom invited interested students to an
optional series of 10 seminars on Biblical Medical Ethics.
Tom showed them how to apply biblical truth to resolve ethical issues.
In order to avoid faulty interpretation, he trained them how to find
the plain 
meaning of Scripture by study of the context, including the
historical and grammatical aspects. By
knowing the right interpretation, students were able to find many applications
of the principle to ethical dilemmas. Now
equipped to take a clear stand founded on biblical medical ethics, the
students can influence others as salt and light in the world. Furthermore, we concluded that it is ethical to
make our faith in Christ the foundation of our medical practice and to provide
spiritual care to our patients.
Tom
& Rosie Thacher
