11Sep 2020 by Post

Last Call: Addressing the Problem of Suicide

AFR, Apologetics, app, cross examined, cross examined official podcast, CrossExamined, crossexamined podcast, Dr. Mark Caton, Frank Turek, google play, iTunes, Podcast, podcasting, Radio, Radio Show, Spotify, stitcher, suicide, Weekly Podcast
Podcast: Play in new window Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | Email | Stitcher | TuneIn | Spotify | RSS On August 1, 2007, Pastor John Mark Caton of Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen Texas, got a phone call from his brother.  It was his last call.  His brother took his life the next day.  Dr. Caton joins Frank to discuss this very difficult topic.  They address these among other questions: What can we do to prevent suicide? How should parents talk to their kids about it? (Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among young people.) Why is isolation such a problem? How does social media contribute to the problem? What does the Bible say about suicide? Can a person who commits suicide go to Heaven? How…
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05Jun 2020 by Post

Suicide by Zoom — Technology and Dehumanization

abortion, assisted suicide, California, coronavirus, Culture & Ethics, dehumanization, Humanize, Medicine, Meera Shah, New York State, oncologists, Oregon, oxymoron, pandemic, patients, Philadelphia Inquirer, Planned Parenthood, silver lining, suicide, Technology, telehealth, telemedicine, Wesley Smith, Zoom
Some have seen a silver lining in the pandemic and welcomed its encouragement of medicine practiced online, potentially freeing doctors to work across state borders, and widening access to care (or virtual care) generally. I’m not sure that’s to be celebrated in its entirety. The trend toward “telehealth” undercuts the crucial personal relationship between doctor and patient, which had already been in retreat before the virus came along. There are other downsides, too, including lethal ones. As the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, “The pandemic is helping U.S. abortion-rights advocates achieve a long-standing goal: Make it easier for women to use pills to end pregnancies up to 10 weeks.” Get your abortion pills online — what could be more convenient? NPR approves, quoting New York physician Meera Shah with Planned Parenthood: “I…
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18Apr 2020 by Post

We Need to Worry About Suicide Contagion, Too

contagion, crisis, Culture, Culture & Ethics, economic hardship, economy, ethics, Medicine, National Center for Health Statistics, population, report, suicide, suicide rate
The National Center for Health Statistics has published an alarming report about the increasing suicide rate — which has been increasing at 2 percent per year since 2006. From the report (my emphasis): This report highlights trends in suicide rates from 1999 through 2018. During this period, the age-adjusted suicide rate increased 35%, from 10.5 per 100,000 U.S. standard population in 1999 to 14.2 in 2018. The average annual percentage increase in the national suicide rate increased from approximately 1% per year from 1999 to 2006 to 2% per year from 2006 through 2018. Our ongoing suicide crisis is a reminder. Economic hardship breeds suicide, which as I have argued in the past, can also be a contagion. Photo credit: Road Trip with Raj via Unsplash. Cross-posted at The Corner. The post We…
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10Feb 2020 by Post

Fewer “Deaths of Despair” Increases U.S. Life Expectancy

addiction, addictive substances, assisted suicide, cancer, Culture & Ethics, deaths of despair, despair, fentanyl, New York Times, opioid painkillers, prosperity, suicide
Good news: U.S. life expectancy has increased. From the New York Times story: Life expectancy increased for the first time in four years in 2018, the federal government said Thursday, raising hopes that a benchmark of the nation’s health may finally be stabilizing after a rare and troubling decline that was driven by a surge in drug overdoses. Part of the reason for the improvement was a decrease in what are known as “deaths of despair”: Deaths from overdoses dropped by 4.1 percent in 2018, to 67,367 from 70,237 in 2017. The decrease was largely driven by a dip in deaths from prescription opioid painkillers, which set off the opioid epidemic in the late 1990s before heroin and, later, fentanyl moved in. Provisional data suggests those deaths continued to fall…
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23Jan 2020 by Post

“World Happiness Report” Focuses on…Government

Canada, creator, Culture & Ethics, Czech Republic, Declaration of Independence, Denmark, faith, Finland, France, Gallup World Poll, GDP per capita, happiness, happiness inequality, Iceland, Israel, Italy, life expectancy, life satisfaction, meaningful life, Norway, Pilate, pro-social behavior, religion, Spain, suicide, technocrats, United States, World Happiness Report
The annual “World Happiness Report” for 2019 is out. Depending on the Gallup World Poll, it turns out the U.S. comes in rather low among free countries at number 19. The Declaration of Independence states that all of us are “endowed” by our Creator with “inalienable rights,” among which is “the pursuit of happiness.” The idea, of course, is that finding happiness is the responsibility of the individual and that government may not unduly interfere with that quest. The Technocrats Speak But according to the study’s technocratic authors, government is the prime creator of happiness. Indeed, the first topic mentioned in the report is “happiness and government,” which are the subjects of the first two chapters. In Chapter 2 they write: At the most basic level, good government establishes and…
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