The Family Room (The Quest)

Join co-hosts Mari Cleveland from St. Jude the Apostle and John Gordon and Craig Wesemeyer from St. Peter Chanel as they speak with authors, theologians, and local priests and lay leaders to provide your family encouragement, resources, and hope. Enjoy heartfelt stories and engaging conversations with Catholics who are excited to share their life experiences and acquired wisdom to help your family continue to live out your faith with joy.
Catholic Bioethics
May 8, 2024

Dr. DiAnn Ecret - PhD, MSN, RN, MA cert


By early high school, DiAnn Ecret dreamed of becoming a missionary nurse, and it was at a Catholic nursing school and hospital that her formative years in the medical field seamlessly flowed from the moral tradition that all life is sacred, from conception through natural death.

Following the Nuremburg Trials and Syphilis Study at Tuskegee, Alabama, America helped develop “Principalism” which stressed the dignity and autonomy of every human being. As a result, the Catholic and secular medical positions were effectively synonymous, both honoring the sanctity of life and importance of truthful disclosure to patients.

By the early 1990s DiAnn found herself at a crossroads, or what she calls “the dark night” of her nursing career. Faced with an upsetting ethical choice, she resigned at the end of that shift and began a personal search which would help answer the bioethical questions looming on the horizon.

Listen as DiAnn explains how her search caused her to understand the dangerous trajectory of current secular medical ethics, highlighting the stark contrasts between Catholic and secular bioethics today.

DiAnn graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing in 1987 and has 38 years of combined adult, pediatric, and neonatal critical care nursing experience, nursing management, and nursing education experience. Currently, DiAnn teaches full time as an Associate Professor of Nursing at Ave Maria University and works as a nurse ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center. She also volunteers providing ethics consultations services for ‘Be Not Afraid’ and volunteers as a guest lecturer for The Nurse Residency Program Naples Comprehensive Health (NCH) care in Southwest Florida.

Resources

  • National Catholic Bioethics Center: “Dedicated to Upholding the Dignity of the Human Person in Health Care and Biomedical Research since 1972.” Email: consults@ncbcenter.org for consultation requests, questions regarding the Church’s teaching on bioethical issues, guidance in moral decision making, or other matters to be directed to an NCBC ethicist. Please allow up to 3 days for a response. In emergency situations, an NCBC ethicist is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by calling 215-877-2660 (only for imminent, end-of-life questions.) NCBC ethicists do not provide legal or medical advice.
  • Be Not Afraid: a private, non-profit organization supporting parents carrying to term following a prenatal diagnosis.
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