Botox and Bioethics

By: Natalie Pippin

In our Christianity and Culture class with Dr. Barnard, we read Gilbert Meilaender's book Bioethics: A Primer for Christians. In conjunction with our reading, Dr. Barnard assigned us a reflection essay in which we analyzed a current bioethical issue in light of our text. I found an article exploring the practice of performing minor cosmetic enhancements by OB-GYNs and General Practicioners. The article can be found here. Below is my paper reflecting on the article in light of Meilander's work:

Dermatologists and Cosmetic Surgeons across the country treat patients' undesirable signs of aging like crow’s feet, jowls, bags under the eyes, and thin lips. In Nashville, my aunt works in one such office giving injections and supplying skin care products only available through a physician. Before joining the Nashville practice, she honed her cosmetic skills alongside a local OB-GYN who added the services to her foray of medical procedures. Her professional experience is a microcosm of the transformed landscape of medical practice within a variety of specialties outside of dermatology and cosmetic surgery.

Cosmetic procedures are nearly ubiquitous among the inventory of services offered by OB-GYNs. General practitioners, too, have climbed aboard the enhancement express. The trend seems to indicate a general disregard for, or at least an ignorance of, the ethical implications of including cosmetic enhancement in the practice of a medical specialty. An article published by the Women’s Bioethics Project addresses the “deep ethical implications of the rapidly increasing trend.”

The article, “Your Cervix is Normal, Now Let’s Talk about Botox® for Those Frown Lines…” adequately enumerates most of the ethical issues that arise when OB-GYNs, and GPs couple cheek fillers with strep tests, pap smears, and insulin injections. The author begins by noting the conflict of interest created by adding lucrative cosmetic enhancement to a physician’s practice because the potential financial incentive compromises the requisite objectivity required in the physician-patient relationship. Board certification in the area of a physician’s specialty grants physicians credibility, and the cosmetic procedures fall outside of the scope of care for which a physician is Board certified. Ultimately, the author observes, this is an “exploitation of patient trust.” Moreover, this disturbing trend “demeans the practice of medicine,” relegating a physician to a “body technician,” and the medical practice to a “body shop.”

Overall, the article effectively argues many of the ethical issues inherent in the trend. However, the article overlooks the greatest ethical gaffe made by OB-GYNs and GPs who add cosmetic enhancements to their therapeutic lineup. In promoting physical agelessness, physicians contribute to a warped sense of wellness that they have a responsibility to subdue. In wishing to escape the physical signs of aging, patients wish to escape the reality of their finitude. Aging is a part of life, indeed it is a part of health. If true health is the body’s processes proceeding as they ought, then the signs of aging are symptomatic of a healthy individual. By displaying wrinkle-free fifty-year-olds in the waiting room pamphlets, physicians communicate a not-so-subtle message to their patients: “If your forehead is not this smooth, you are not well. And in this office you are free to fix that problem.” But, as Gilbert Meilaender points out, “The only freedom worth having… is a freedom that acknowledges its limits and does not seek to be godlike."

Certainly, aging brings its share of suffering. The skin of an elderly man seems as fragile as tissue paper. The bones of an elderly woman seem as porous as a sponge. For these maladies, physicians ought to offer adequate, compassionate care. However, in promoting unnatural youthfulness, physicians forget to embrace the good in suffering. Meilaender instructs physicians to understand both sides of suffering, seeing it “as an evil which can… have meaning and purpose.” Physicians charged with caring for the suffering of their patients step well beyond ethical boundaries when they include cosmetic enhancement as a standard in the care they offer.

Pop Culture: Pop Art

By: Susan Denney

During this semester in our Christian Worldview class with Dr. Barnard, we read All God's Children And Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth A. Myers. In response to reading the book our assignment was to take an aspect of popular culture that Myers discusses and find an example of this aspect in the world to analyze. Here is my response paper.

In today’s world, pop culture is in every corner of our society. One area that has been affected and changed by pop culture is art. While timeless pieces of art that fall into the high culture realm are still appreciated and admired, up and coming artists in today’s art scene are very much have emerged and are continuing to emerge into focusing on what is new and what is now. They are pushing the envelope of their art to be new and now with not only techniques, but subject matter as well. From the fifties to the sixties there were many charges that happened in culture and society. The change that came forth in the art world was pop art. In All God’s Children and Blue Suede Shoes Christians & Popular Culture by Kenneth A. Myers, Myers said, “Since the 1960s, the aesthetics of popular culture have effectively displaced those of high culture” (72). Pop art played a great role in the displacement of high culture.
One of the most influential artists of pop art was Andy Warhol. Warhol’s art centered on subjects that were known by the populous. Some of his subjects included a Campbell’s soup can, Coca cola, and even famous people like Jackie Onassis and Marilyn Monroe. He took what was prominent and popular in his culture during the time and plugged into it using his art.
Warhol’s piece that consists of duplicates of Marilyn Monroe’s photograph speaks to the desire for what is new and now in pop culture. The way Warhol took a photograph and put it on a canvas was a new way in art. Photography was already an area of the arts but, Warhol took it a step further combining the area of photography with silk screen printing. According to The Color Vision and Art, a virtual exhibit developed by the WebExhibits Museum, Warhol was inspired to work with silk screen printing because of its wide usage in mass production (2). He took a widely used, new technique of silk screen printing and turned it into a piece of art work. Color Vision and Art quotes Warhol when he said, “When Marilyn Monroe happen to die that month, I got the idea to make screens of her beautiful face the first Marilyns.” (3). Marilyn Monroe is a pop icon. When Warhol got the idea to do the first Marilyns, she was what was, “hott”, in Hollywood and after her death she was one of the biggest headlines. She was the “now”. When you think of movie stars and the Sixties, Marilyn Monroe is one of the most popular ones. Myers said, “The television or record producer, the paperback editor or the movie production company is interested in discovering successful formulas and repeating them, not because they will better explore the content, but because the market is already there for such a production” (80). This is the case with Warhol’s pieces of Marilyn Monroe. He took someone who was already in the market of Hollywood and made her photograph into art. With a movie star such as Marilyn Monroe there was a market for anything and everything that had her name and or face on it.
Warhol made a career out of the new and the now of pop culture. He took people and products he knew people were into and made a commodity pass as art. As an artist he focused more on what the people wanted rather than the art itself. Warhol’s pieces of art including the Marilyn Monroe pieces have influenced and changed not only the art world but, the world entirely. Pop Culture has taken the place in today’s world where high culture once stood.

Working Girl

By: Susan Denney

In this year of Fellows there have been many wonderful experiences and opportunities to grow mentally and spiritually. One area that has contributed to my growth is my internship. I am currently interning with two places; the National Civil Rights Museum in the education and interpretations department and with Second Presbyterian Church in the communications department and wherever else they need me.

With my background being in studio art and writing, I could never have imagined myself in these two places. It has been good for me to be in working environments that are very new and different from my past working environments. Working at the National Civil Rights Museum (NCRM) I have learned about how to properly store and catalogue artifacts in a museum. I have also had the opportunity to learn more about the Civil Rights Movement and the people who contributed to the movement through many different programs that the museum has had. Through working at the NCRM and the church I have come to realize how much I am an organizer. Currently at Second Presbyterian I have been going through previous members' files and organizing them into different catagories.

The hardest part about both of these internships is that I am doing alot of clerical work. I have always loved being around people and so it can sometimes be hard sitting behind a desk all day. However, through this negative, I have come to realize how much I do need to be involved with people in my future career.

A job will never be perfect and I am thankful for the experiences that I have been able to have with both of my internships. I know the Lord is using both of these jobs to grow and direct me where He wants me to be in the future. The Lord is working on building confidence into my life not in myself but, in Him. In the past I have lacked confidence and this was due to focusing more on myself and not on the Lord. He has given me talents and abilities to use for His glory. I often do not think about how He will not only use my talents and abilities but, He will use my weaknesses as well.

2 Corinthians 12: 9 says, "But he said to me, "'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."' May my weaknesses be used to bring glory to our Father in Heaven and to draw the lost to Christ.

Finding Cures. Saving Children.

By: Natalie Pippin

In the fifth grade, I was the anchor of my school television program, WLPE. In my role, I had the opportunity to help the local television station with the St. Jude telethon. A few weeks before the telethon occurred, I went to the area hospital and filmed a few segments for the telethon. I interviewed a girl my age with Spina Bifida, who faced challenges similar to those of St. Jude patients. I also filmed a segment about rocking chairs that parents used to soothe their sick children. Little did I know then that my relationship with St. Jude was only beginning.

During my last semester of college, I entertained many ideas for post-graduation plans. None of them resonated with my desires for my "year off" like the Fellows Program. I knew that becoming a Fellow would allow me to steward my year by committing myself to growing spiritually, vocationally, socially, and intellectually. When I interviewed with the Memphis program, Bisha mentioned the possibility of landing an internship at St. Jude. For someone aspiring to a career in Pediatric Oncology, getting a job at St. Jude equates to a golfer playing in the Masters. In late July, I learned that my dream would be actualized!

My internship at St. Jude has been nothing short of my grand expectations. I have engaged in patient care, clinical research, and hospital administration. In addition to the experiences that have been personally beneficial, my supervisor has given me ample opportunities to initiate and complete projects that improve the quality of patient care and employee life at St. Jude. For the reciprocal benefit, I am tremendously grateful.

Had my internship been independent of the Fellows program, it would have been great. However, it has been the unique context of continual discipleship through the Fellows program that has made my internship experience superlative. Without the incubator of seminar discussions, roundtable fellowship, and biblical guidance, I would have lacked a sufficient support system for healthily processing through the daily occurrences in my internship. Because of my Fellows internship, I have learned to think Christianly about the medical profession and my own future practice of medicine.

I am already becoming somewhat morose about packing up my desk at St. Jude in a few weeks. But I leave St. Jude with the firm expectation of returning one day, hopefully with a few more credentials, and definitely with a firm biblical framework for understanding and practicing my calling.

2008-2009 Fellows Class

Susan, Meghean, Natalie, Emily

Susan Denney graduated Magna Cum Laude from Mississippi College with a B.A. in studio art with an emphasis in painting and a minor in English. She was a recipient of both the Mississippi College Leadership and Heritage Scholarships and was a member of the Kappa Pi International Honorary Art Fraternity, the Alpha Mu Gamma National Collegiate Foreign Language Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Delta, and the National Scholars Honor Society. She was on the Deans List for six semesters and the President’s List for two semesters. Susan was the chaplain and historian for Alpha Mu Gamma and was actively involved as a volunteer leader with both the junior high ministries and elementary youth ministries at her home church in Jackson, MS.

Meghean Warren graduated from Southern Methodist University with a B.F.A. in Theatre Studies. She was the recipient of the SMU Leadership Award as well as the John Lee McCulloch Scholarship Award. Meghean was active in many theater productions as actress, costume designer, or stage manager throughout her college years and seeks a career in theater arts following her Fellows year. She was active in RUF during college, as well as her sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma. This summer, Meghean was an integral part of our summer youth staff, working primarily with girls from Hutchison.

Natalie Pippin graduated from Gardner-Webb University where she majored in religious studies and minored in chemistry. Recipient of the University Fellows full academic scholarship, Natalie was named the Most Outstanding Female Graduate by the faculty and administration. Natalie was a student representative for the Academic Appeals and Integrity Board, Life of the Scholar Lecture Series, and University Environmental Safety Committee. Additionally, Natalie held other positions of leadership within the student government and national honor societies. Natalie served as vice president of the Christian Ministry Association and was a patient volunteer at Hospice and Palliative Care of Cleveland County. Natalie plans to attend medical school after her Fellows year. Her Fellows internship is with St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Natalie hails from Augusta, GA and is an avid sports fan, with the Masters PGA Tournament high on her list.

Emily Wingle comes to us from Bakersfield, CA. She graduated with a B.A. in Cinema Broadcast Arts from Azusa Pacific University, where she served as reporter and co-anchor for a student-led newscast, “Azusa Take Off.” She also co-produced a documentary as a school project. She was a transfer leader for incoming students and a discipleship leader for freshman girls. While at Azusa Emily was active in her church assisting in children’s ministries. She went on a mission trip to Mexico and co-led a team bringing VBS to the children. Emily has worked as an assistant to an author as well as caring for an autistic child. While in the Los Angeles area, Emily interned for a public relations firm in the entertainment industry

Leaders

Dr. Justin Barnard
Scholar in Residence
B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, Palm Beach Atlantic College, 1996
M.A.; Ph.D. in Philosophy, Florida State University, 1999; 2002

Justin Barnard is Director of the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Christian Leadership at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. His teaching and scholarly interests include: bioethics, philosophy of religion/apologetics, and the philosophical legacy of C.S. Lewis. Dr. Barnard is actively involved with the International Christian Fellowship at Second Presbyterian Church where he and his wife Tracie are members. They are the proud parents of two sons, Nate and Luke.

Bisha Harrington
Program Coordinator
B.A., Rhodes College, 1987

Upon graduating from Rhodes College with a degree in business and economics, Bisha Harrington worked in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s as a Financial Analyst in commercial lending at National Bank of Commerce and a Financial Consultant with Merrill Lynch. The mid 1990’s took her to Covenant Theological Seminary with her husband Clay, M. Div., M.A.C, where she worked as the apartment manager on campus and attended various seminary classes. Since returning to Memphis in 1996, Bisha has facilitated Bible Studies for several women’s groups in addition to raising their three children Jake, Lauren, and Caleb.

Jason Hood
Bible Study Instructor
B.A., Rhodes College, 1998
M.A. in Biblical Studies, Reformed Theological Seminary, 2004

Jason is a Texas native and a graduate of Rhodes College and Reformed Theological Seminary. He and his wonderful wife, Emily, share the joy of parenting Noah, Darby, and James. They are members of the 2:42 congregational community at Second Presbyterian Church. Jason has experience teaching the Bible in the church and at the secondary school and undergraduate levels. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in New Testament at Highland Theological College and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.