Harping about abortion
A social worker at a clinic connected with Providence Alaska Medical Center led a 15-year-old girl to seek an abortion, then arranged for her to obtain it in Seattle at government expense, all without her parents' knowledge or approval, a lawsuit filed last month alleges. Her boyfriend, 17, went with her.
The parents only found out when they became frantic because their daughter didn't come home one night in March 2003, according to the suit filed by Anchorage attorney Yale Metzger on behalf of the girl and her parents. An older daughter who knew about the abortion told them where she was, the suit says.
The suit names as defendants Sisters of Providence, doing business as Providence Health System Alaska and Providence Family Practice Center, as well as the social worker at the center.
The Daily News is not naming the plaintiffs because of the sensitive nature of the matter and the girl's age. She is now 17.
The unusual court case provides a look at how a young teenager can get an abortion without her parents' knowledge. It was filed March 3, just before the issue returned to public view. Alaska's Legislature passed a law in 1997 requiring that girls under 17 get approval either from their parents or a judge, but it has never taken effect because of court challenges. On April 13, the Alaska Supreme Court heard the latest round of arguments over whether the law should stand.
The girl in the lawsuit regrets her decision to have an abortion, Metzger said. "Whether you agree or disagree with parental consent or parental notification, this isn't the right way," he said. She and her parents are seeking unspecified damages for emotional distress.
Providence, as a Catholic institution, doesn't perform abortions but will refer patients to where they can get one, said spokeswoman Karina Jennings.
A staff member may bring up the option of an abortion if a patient indicates the pregnancy is unwanted, she said. It's a difficult area for workers whose role is to help the patient but who still must follow Catholic ethical and religious teachings, Jennings said.
"We believe we followed good sound medical practice in this case," Jennings said. She wouldn't discuss specifics. [Source]
What a bunch of crap. The goal is to help patients, but unfortunately we still must still follow Catholic teaching so we have to wiggle around the fact that we are a Catholic hospital. Of course they didn't explain how their help in this case caused the girl to regret the abortion she had.
Under their spiritual care services page they included the Catholic Mass but seem to have left off "Arranging travel to another state so that an abortion may be provided without informing the parents." Under spirituality they also offer 'sound' medical treatment like Music Thanatology. They offer to have harp player play at your beside as you die. I guess this is to help you transition to the dominant musical genre in Heaven since you always see Angels with harps. "A music vigil doesn't require a doctor's order." Well that is a good thing. Nothing worse than prescriptive harp playing.
Karen Gilley, RN
Music Thanatologist
Known as 
Jeff - sometime last year, I discovered another incident in which "music" was being employed by "music therapist" to help reform church services. It was a haunting site. The professional "therapist" stated on her organization's website that she study at Harvard under Timothy Leary and side kick, Maslow (?).
She talked about the "spirituality" reached by using mind alternating drugs infused w/music.
I have also seen this development in "art therapy" too. There are several sites of supposed "art therapist" who seem to be adventuring into the realm of "automatic drawing" as in "automatic" writing. They offer spiritual retreats and classes ... their finished samples of drawings do not soothe me one bit.
So eerie. I know there is an element of truth in that music can "soothe the soul", and that some art therapies are very legitimate, but it does appear to me that there is a morphing of the legitimate therapies into the "new age" realm.......
Thanks for posting and adding your thoughts. As a parent of a pre-teen girl, the parental right issue, & the campaigns against parental rights alarms me and my husband.
+JMJ+
Don't you love the halo effect in the photograph?
That's no halo, that's her "aura".
I've seen the "art therapy" too and it seemed really, really creepy to me.
As a musician, I think that the idea of playing for terminally ill patients is beautiful. The name for this is unfortunate, and of course opportunities for poor judgment abound, but I do not think that the nature of the thing is in any way flawed. Find more information here.
Wow - talk about scary. Almost this exact thing is in Robert Hugh Benson's The Lord of the World. The places were called "Homes of Rest" and one went there to commit Euthanasia. All very pleasant, too: clean, and entirely according to government specs.
But this is about as sinister a thing as I ever heard: "Hello, I'm your thanatologist, and I'll be helping you die."
+ St. Michael, defend us against the powers of darkness!
DoctorThursday - I agree ... it was also depicted in, J.D. James' book Children of Men.
Below are some of the sites (those not all) I was refering to above:
First there is The Dove Health Alliance a non-profit research group: http://www.dovehealthalliance.com/overview.htm
A Global Cooperative Research Effort:
The Alliance's orientation from the outset has been characterized by an international perspective, and plans to carry out collaborative research with participants from the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Japan, England, Germany, France, Holland, Austria and Australia. Several hundred research scientists including physicists, engineers and psychologists, allopathic and naturopathic physicians, and other allied health professionals and associates have joined forces in this research effort. Many of the participants have been the pioneers in Energy Medicine and CAM medicine, conducting independently funded research and clinical trials for over two decades .....
Whatever these are, they are exploring:
3.
Subtle Structuring and Resonance Phenomena in Water
4.
Geocosmic Phenomena and Geomagnetic Effects on Living Systems
5.
Light and Color Therapies in Complementary Medicine
6.
Sound and Acoustic Therapies in Complementary Medicine
7.
DNA Restructuring with Bioelectromagnetic Fields
8.
Pleomorphism using High Definition Microscopy
9.
Effects of Torsion Fields, Inert Gas Technologies and Geometric Structuring of Space on Life
"Energy Medicine" .... reminds of some of the IET treatments offered at so Catholic retreats .... IET is channeling.
But, more to the point:
There is Mr. Goldman whose new books seems to sport a picture by Alex Grey (art associate of Matt Fox, Techno cosmic Mass fame):
http://www.sacredmysteries.com/jonathan_goldman.htm
" ... In this video, internationally acclaimed teacher, author and chant master Jonathan Goldman takes us on a captivating tour of the world of Sound Healing. Through teachings, meditations, healings and visual imagery, he shows us how to use the innate power of sound to heal our bodies, .... From the ancient knowledge of the past, to the advanced science of today ... reveals a magical world that is created, healed and transformed by the power of sound. .... he introduces us to some of the basic concepts in the use of sound as a therapeutic and healing modality.
...... the vibratory nature of our world, brainwave activity, bio-resonant frequency, sonic entrainment, the magic of Cymatics, the effects of sound on the immune system and the power of right intention in the healing process. ..... demonstrates the use of the voice as a potent instrument for the restoration and maintenance of optimal health, how the power of music can assist us in leading more vital, energetic and well-balanced lives and how we can use simple techniques of sound healing to bring more luminosity into our bodies and energy fields. ....."
Then the other music healer, Helen Bonny:
http://www.empowerinnovations.com/
My premise was that the magic could happen to others .... uncover the creative potential in each person through the use of carefully chosen music. .... to discover how this might be done.” Helen Bonny
Music and Imagery experiences are based on Guided Imagery and Music Therapy (GIM)
Guided Imagery and Music is a music-centered exploration of consciousness which uses specifically programmed music to stimulate and sustain a dynamic unfolding of inner experiences offering persons many possibilities for wholeness. .....
Helen Bonny, music therapist, was doing research with the University of Maryland with Maslow and peak experiences in the 1960’s:
* When experimentation with LSD was banned, Helen used her vast knowledge of music to continue the research with music only
* The method using music that Dr. Bonny created was found to have the same results as the drug testing; however, the difference was that the patients remembered their experience!
* The technique of Guided Imagery and Music Therapy has been used clinically and is only administered by those with extensive training in psychology, music, and consciousness. ...."
And this one from the past - Music & Art:
" ... More contentiously, subjective experiences were tellingly described in "Thought Forms", co-authored by the Reverend C. W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant in 1901 under the auspices of the Theosophical Society. Attributed to clairvoyance rather than synaesthesia, the visions were purported to demonstrate the invisible but true form of the music, discernible by the privileged few with the gift of second sight ..."
Yes, music can have a healing effect ... soothing the beast .... but, I still wonder about all of this too.
+JMJ+
The Sisters of Providence are a moribund religious order soon to go the way of the DoDo bird. Up till a couple of years ago, they ran the school at my parish for nearly 100 years. My kids were taught by some of them.
Till the 1960s (what else!?) they were a brave, loving and deeply committed group of women.
Some still are.
As for our new therapies and all the bizarre goings with the paranormal, it's a sign of a society with too much time on its hands, too much money and too many P.T. Barnums ready to help them to empty their pockets.
People who have something to do besides focus on their navels and other lower regions, just don't have the time, energy or gullibility for this kind of sham.
The wife of our former Choir master was a music thana-whatsit . . . she was awesome, she was also a harpist and would play for people to offer them "a glimpse of earthly beauty before they met the source of all beauty" . . . I thought it was kind of cool . . . I'd like to go out listenting to the Unfinished Symphony by Schubert
Granted, the term "music thanatology" is silly excess. But I don't see anything particularly ridiculous about trying to make dying in a hospital less distressing.
Of course, when my time comes, I'd want a different harpist.
"I'd like to go out listenting to the Unfinished Symphony by Schubert"
On a harp? Get yourself a pair of headphones and listen to it performed properly. The only thing I want to hear on my way out is "Ego te absolvo in nomine Patris, et Filio, et Spiritu Sancto . . ."
Beautiful music while you are dying is lovely, but I'm afraid they're offering the thanawhatsis with exactly the same force they're offering the chaplain.
First the Sacraments, then a little music. Then more Sacraments, then a little music.
Personally, I'd welcome her visit to my room with about as much joy as a strip-o-gram.
I meant that the RIGHT way was Sacraments - music - Sacraments - music.....
Nominally Catholic institutions that refer out objectionable acts are no less disgusting than a friend who would say, "I won't get involved in helping you get rid of your spouse/boss/nosy neighbor. But I'll tell you where to find a top-notch hitman."
Well, the pope likes Mozart. What that exactly has to do with the conversation, I'm not sure, but I'm impressed with my own knowledge. Which leads me to the source of annoyance for me. It's not an objection to soft music played for the dying that I have, it's the grandiosity and apparent self-importance of the folks who do it that rubs me the wrong way. For crying out loud, they give themselves a title! Got a loved one dying? Here's my business card! Dying is a profoundly serious and sublime moment, accompanied by ministers and loved ones. Doctors and nurses are necessary, but did you ever notice how they step out of the way when the moment is near? That's because there's no earthly help to be given at that point. You become the very witness of a soul leaving us, and not one note of music nor one human word can compare to the majesty of it.
I'm a harpist (adult student) and I've looked into some of these harp therapy programs. All I've seen have been appallingly New-Agey, except for one, and even that one, I suspect, was playing down its new-aginess in its literature in order to appear more mainstream.
I think the bottom line is that the New Agers have hijacked a valid concept and used it for their own purposes, as they have with so many other things. I believe there are some legitimate studies that prove patients suffer less post-operative pain, have fewer complications, and generally better outcomes when soft, classical-type music is played during and after surgery.
I am not entirely comfortable with the idea of harpists playing for the dying, for the reasons Teresa stated. And, I agree with her about the self-importance of these practitioners. Graduates of some of the harp therapy programs wear a stole as a sign of their 'sacred calling!' At a harp festival I attended, there were representatives of one program walking around in lavendar stoles, the trademark of that particular program. A deliberate mockery of the role of the Catholic priest? I found the whole thing very disturbing.
I believe, though, there may be a role for music, and particularly harp music, in health care, if it could be purged of the New Age nonsense.