“Some Catholic schools quiet on pharmacy ethics”

In “Some Catholic schools quiet on pharmacy ethics” (Our Sunday Visitor, 11/12/06), Steven Saint reports that “Veteran pharmacist Karen Brauer, founder of Pharmacists for Life International, isn’t sure a couple of classes will be enough to prepare young Catholic pharmacists for the ethical dilemmas they will face in the marketplace….Five Catholic universities…have full six-year doctor of pharmacy programs,” including New York ’s Saint John’s University?

What can be surmised about the presentation of medical ethics at St. John's? As per the university web site, we are told that Vincentian Father Richard Devine provides “Individual counseling on medical ethical issues both within the university and without” <www.stjohns.edu/academics/graduate/liberalarts/departments/theology/faculty/bi_theo_deviner.sju>. Father Devine is also the author of “Good Care, Painful Choices, 3rd ed. (Paulist Press, 2004).
To this reviewer, there seemed to be a number of serious deficiencies with Father Devine's text, including his advocacy for the acceptance of IVF within marriage, references to dissenting theologians, and omission of important guidance from the Vatican. Some of Father's guidance seemed so poorly worded as to be easily misconstrued <www.amazon.com/Good-Care-Painful-Choices-Ordinary/dp/0809142732>.