Search || Home » Panzer » Truthfulness

Truthfulness
Part Four of Ten

Ron Panzer
April 17, 2013
Man in the World
Part Four of Ten
Truthfulness
(Part of the Ethics of Life Series)
Reproduced with Permission
Hospice Patients Alliance

Eliminating fraud of all types would solve so many problems! Fraud is nothing but deception in order to take that which is not rightfully earned and possessed. The person, business, corporation, government official or administration committing fraud unjustly takes what is not rightfully due him, or it, depriving others of what is rightfully their own. When such fraud occurs in a healthcare, or even a research, setting, the patients and staff often suffer. 1

Honesty, or truthfulness, is among the basic principles of the natural moral law, and people everywhere recognize that honesty in dealings with others is a prerequisite for societal order and well-being. Mothers and fathers will insist that their children tell them the truth and not lie to anyone. Honesty in our speech, actions, and interactions with others, is one of the basic principles governing all human activity and relationships, whether in science, technology, industry, commerce and healthcare, or within our own families and communities.

Truthfulness begins with an honest assessment and evaluation of all that we are and includes honest "self-talk" that leads to a realistic evaluation of our own human, necessarily imperfect, condition. However great (in the eyes of the world) our abilities, knowledge, training, wealth or power may be, truthfulness leads us to humility, to remorse for that imperfection and the wrongs we all have certainly committed.

Authentic truthfulness eventually leads to the realization that we are utterly incapable of changing our own nature without God's grace. We see that no matter how long or hard we try, our efforts are futile. We recognize that we are "stuck." Truthfulness leads to sober reflection. It compels us to turn away from our wrong-headedness and activity, to acknowledge Him and to turn toward God, taking refuge in Him as our only hope - and then do the right in obedience to His law throughout our lives (Hebrews 11:6).

Those who cling to their pride say that it "takes faith" to acknowledge Him and to turn toward Him, and then feeling that they don't "have" faith, they choose to give up and turn away from God and the way of true religion. Yet, is faith something we simply have, or don't have, without any effort on our part?

Faith is a gift, but it is also an act of man, a fruit of the free-will God has given all of us when we choose to align our free-will with His will, when we choose to seek Him. Having faith is like the act of a little child innocently offering a flower to one she loves (Matthew 18:3). When we choose to continually strive to do what we believe will please Him, we open to the way of faith.

When man is truthful, he observes the things and living beings in this world, and the sun, moon and stars. Beyond seeing these, he considers how they are formed, and how they express a wondrous and perfect order in how they interact in the universe.

A truthful man is like a child who cries out in spontaneous joy one early morning looking at the sparkling dew drop resting on a newly blossomed flower. He is like a child who lays on his joyfully looking up at a puffy white cloud slowly sailing through a bright blue sky on a sunny day. He is any one of us who finds joy in the good things of the Earth and in the love we share with each other. A truthful man is transparently present to what is before him and simply loves.

When man is truthful, he finds joy in the goodness that God gives us. The truthful man begins to suspect there is something more. He senses that there is an unseen Source of our joy. When man is truthful, he recognizes that only a perfect Maker can create the perfection that exists all around us.

All men seek happiness in some way through their actions in this world, however misguided we may be, but the truthful man recognizes what really brings happiness. Being authentically truthful, he becomes humble. Being humble, he does not inwardly resist the way of faith.

If there are any who say they really wish to believe in God, yet complain that they do not have faith and want to have faith, the principle of truthfulness reveals that somehow, somewhere within, they are still clinging to the things of this world, whether their possessions, knowledge, status, power or quite simply, their pride, however subtle it may be. They do not sincerely desire that faith, otherwise they would have it.

God "rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6)." As Jesus tells us:

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds;
and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. - Matthew 7:7-8

It is the truthful man who is sincere and seeks that unseen Source of our joy. St. Francis of Assisi spoke about a "spirit of poverty" that is necessary to follow the way of God. For those who followed his rule and entered his order, this meant literally giving up all their possessions. Yet, the spirit of poverty requires, whether we have much or little in this world, that we are unattached to all the things of the world, including our own pride, and are then set free to fly inwardly to our Beloved.

Those who are sincere in their search for God are rewarded and the little faith they begin with grows, just like a tiny seed may grow into a great tree (Matthew 25:29; 13:31-32). They enter the kingdom of heaven and are blessed to establish the culture of life.

Like the apostle Nathanael, those who are sincere are without guile, without deceit (John 1:47). The dear Lord comes close and blesses such a man. Truthfulness is essential not only for the growth of our personal, professional and societal relations, but for everything in life and above all, our relationship with God. Truthfulness is required before we can truly love, before we can truly care, before we can truly serve those before us.

There is no real faith without truthfulness. Truthfulness in thought, speech and action, also known as "honesty," makes a man honorable . Because an honest man naturally does what is right, honesty is moral goodness or virtue.

Honesty in man is a "kind of spiritual beauty," goodness itself. 2 Yet, the dear Lord Jesus, told us, "There is only One who is good (Matthew 19:17)." It is clear that no man of this world is perfectly honest. Without truthfulness in our dealings, only harm to ourselves and others arises. This is a root of the culture of death, as it is through lies to ourselves and others that darkness overtakes our mind and influences us to continue to do wrong.

When man investigates the universe through science, when he seeks to find a cure for a disease, honesty in that pursuit is essential. Can there be any verifiable scientific research if the collection of data, the production of records, and experimental findings do not honestly reflect the results of any and all experimentation? Can there be any reliable scientific research if the design of the study is flawed to begin with?

Can there be any reliable study of a medication's efficacy and safety if that study's results are falsified to promote business interests, as is commonly done today? 3 If scientific research and findings are turned into commercial advertisements to foster profit rather than truthful human activity, no physician can rely upon the published studies, and therefore, patients suffer and even their lives are endangered.

If physicians and other healthcare professionals say one thing yet do another, if they have no honor, should patients entrust their lives to them? If healthcare professionals cannot be trusted to honestly record the actual, objective condition of the patient, can appropriate and justly due care be provided? Falsified medical records are common to both financial fraud as well as the moral fraud and evil of imposed death by various means.

There are nurses and physicians to whom I would readily entrust my life. Why? Because I know them. I know how they think, act, and how much they care. They possess integrity, are competent, act wisely and are truthful, and are therefore worthy of my trust. There are others who would be the last ones I would want to trust with my life or the lives of those I love, yet in many healthcare settings, we are not permitted to choose which nurse or doctor provides our care.

Licensed healthcare workers are required to adhere to the standards of care that assure the proper treatment of patients. They are required to record, report and communicate honestly and accurately any conditions, observations or other concerns that may arise regarding the patient. Unfortunately, not all healthcare professionals or others adhere to the standards of care!

When a nurse in a hospice or palliative care setting, for example, dishonestly reports that a patient has "extreme pain," when there is no pain, the physician will order strong opioid pain medications such as morphine and fentanyl. If the patient has no pain, then the opioids administered are more likely to have drastic and often lethal consequences.

The nurse who seeks to impose death often accomplishes that goal through dishonest reports to the physician while tragically, in other cases, the physician is also involved. The culture of death is founded upon dishonesty, pride and moral evil posing as "professional care." Nazi doctors and nurses considered themselves to be very professional! 4

If the healthcare professional pretends to be a healer, yet seeks to medically-kill those under his care, he becomes the opposite of what he is thought to be and meant to be. He betrays the trust given to him by the public and becomes an actual criminal, whether he is prosecuted for that crime or not.

The deceptive practices used in many modern medical settings, to manipulate life so that death is imposed while pretending to provide care is the dishonest nature of the evil we call stealth euthanasia . 5 The most common method utilized to impose death on many thousands of patients is "terminal" or "palliative" sedation - sedating the patient permanently while withholding fluids and nutrition.

Family members who respect the sanctity of life are misled to believe the patient is naturally sleeping, yet a coma has been medically-induced which prevents patients from eating or drinking, and is then continued until death occurs from dehydration. Health care staff even withhold fluids and nutrition from those who had been receiving nutrition and fluids through a tube. Other methods are also used to impose death.

Those family members who seek to hasten death are instructed in the means of hastening death and are brought into the circle of conspirators in assuring that death comes unnaturally. Stealth euthanasia is neither open euthanasia nor assisted-suicide, and multiple lies are told by almost all staff members in order to commit this "Third Way" of imposing death in the healthcare setting. Stealth euthanasia is the most common and widely-practiced form of medical killing within the culture of death today.

The ethics of life that establish the culture of life require truthfulness to be practiced in our service to patients and all mankind (1 Peter 2:21-22). The ethics of life require us to provide patients with complete information regarding their illness as well as the treatments that are available, including all risks that are possible.

The principle of truthfulness establishes the right to informed consent when participating in any research or in any healthcare. 6 Justice requires that a person is given that which is their right, what is "due" to them, and in healthcare, truthful, complete information, informed consent, and appropriate care, charitably provided, is the patient's right! The culture of life affirms these rights and assures that patients receive them, while the culture of death in practice routinely denies them.

Those physicians who function as part of the culture of death and embrace secular bioethics often fail to provide complete informed consent while also actively misinforming patients, parents or other family members. Deception, violating the rights of patients to informed consent, manipulation, and intimidation form some of the building blocks of the culture of death and are especially practiced when crimes against humanity are committed in a medical or research setting. 7

In order to "justify" hastening death in one way or another, they also mislead and deceive by citing the self-contradictory principles of secular bioethics ("patient autonomy," "justice," and "beneficence" as they define them and misuse them), and fail to mention the ethics of life that are consistent with the divine and the natural moral law.

Parents who are expecting a baby who has some congenital abnormality, for example, are told that their baby's condition is "inconsistent with life," "will cause an unnecessary burden" upon the family, or that the condition is "not treatable," even though these statements are often untrue.

In the case of patients suffering from dementia, more and more families today are encouraged and even pressured to place their loved one who is not terminally ill into hospice and have death imposed. Culture of death healthcare professionals use euphemisms such as "It's time to let go." or "His quality of life is so poor, don't you think it would be better to transfer him to hospice?"

Family members of brain-injured patients are discouraged from having treatment and rehabilitation provided. They are encouraged to withdraw any treatment or rehabilitation if it has already been begun, and to agree to have the patient's organs harvested for transplantation, even though many of these patients may and do recover.

In just the same way as a part of modern-day eugenics, at the beginning of life, extreme pressure is placed upon parents to medically kill those babies deemed to be congenitally deformed or disabled, in utero through "abortion." 8 Any treatment that might be given before or after birth is considered medically "futile," for such babies, but not for babies considered normal.

If the baby has already been born, then pressure is exerted to have the newborn transferred to a peri-natal hospice where life-affirming treatments are simply not provided; sometimes fluids and nutrition are withheld so that a hastened death is assured. If a baby that would benefit from treatment is not given that needed nutrition, fluids and treatment, it is very likely to perish within days or a few weeks.

The pregnant mother is told that she may have an "abortion" performed, but is misled to think that the preborn embryo or fetus is not a human being, not a "person," and just a "bunch of tissue," or some other deception, contrary to the scientific facts of human embryology established more than 100 years ago and definitively set forth in the Carnegie Stages of Embryology. 9 Healthcare professionals fail to properly inform the mother that those who undergo abortion procedures and have their child medically-killed are much more likely to suffer depression, drug and alcohol abuse, grief, and guilt.

Culture of death healthcare professionals do not help mothers realize that those who undergo abortion have much higher rates of death from natural causes, suicide, infertility and miscarriage; cervical, ovarian, and liver cancer; uterine perforation, placenta previa, pre-term deliveries, disabled babies, ectopic pregnancies, and endometritis in later pregnancies, as well as infection, embolism and stroke and other medical problems. 10

Culture of death peri-natal hospice replicates at the beginning of life those practices of the culture of death at the end-of-life. Family members are misled to think that an imposed death is a "natural death" and that a medically-sedated infant is simply "sleeping," or that the symptoms of acute medication overdose or of dehydration are the symptoms of "dying" from their condition.

In a culture of life peri-natal hospital unit or peri-natal hospice, life-affirming treatment is provided and, that death is unavoidable is only ascertained after life-affirming treatments including nutrition and hydration are provided. In other words, we recognize that death is only certain upon actual death and that so long as there is life, we are to support life by providing at least a minimum of ordinary actual care.

Peri-natal hospice can mislead parents into believing that the death of their newborn is inevitably imminent. Quite often it is not. In the case of newborns with Down's syndrome ("Trisomy 21") for example, placing them in peri-natal hospice is a clear choice to impose death unnaturally; as individuals with Down's syndrome are known to live into their fifties and beyond.

In Holland, the government seeks to make sure that by the year 2030, 100% of Down's syndrome babies are aborted, and in many areas of the USA , up to 90% of the preborn identified as having Down's syndrome are already being medically-killed through abortion. 11 For the 10% or more of Down syndrome individuals who avoid being medically-murdered in utero, peri-natal hospice becomes a second line of eugenic attack for the culture of death, assuring that those deemed "unworthy of life" die.

Such peri-natal hospice practices give the parents time with their baby, which is much appreciated, but the question remains: "Would the baby have lived without being hastened to death?" Were the parents properly informed that their baby actually could have lived with his condition? Were the parents given complete information about all treatments and support networks that might be helpful?

Were the parents informed that many Down Syndrome individuals (or other congenital condition) actually live quite happy lives and that their families love them and are often extremely grateful for their presence in their lives? The principle of truthfulness in the form of informed consent demands that they receive this information.

In a culture of death setting, the obvious answer is that the parents almost always are not given such information. As for placement in a peri-natal hospice, it is almost certain the baby would have lived much longer if death had not been imposed through various means, including the withholding of nutrition, hydration or any other clinically appropriate care.

With regard to such basic necessities of life such as food, the basic ethical principles of practicing truthfulness and justice in relation to others require that those who produce, distribute and sell food provide complete and truthful information about that food, as each person has the right to know what they are eating and what harm might come from eating it. Food naturally promotes health, but food that is not wholesome and unnatural may cause illness and infertility. Late summer corn ready for harvest "photo courtesy gospelgifs.com"

If farmers produce food crops from genetically-modified seeds that are manipulated and are known to produce illness 12 over time, the people must be informed and given the choice of natural or genetically-modified food. Who among us would knowingly buy and consume such foods?

That is one reason the manufacturers of these seeds, like Monsanto and others, spent over $45 million dollars to defeat 13 a 2012 statewide initiative in California that would have required labeling of food as genetically-modified or not.

The public trusts that the foods sold in the marketplace are good and wholesome, and serve them to their own family members. They expect that the government's regulatory agencies would remove unsafe products from the market if they existed. If they knew that the regulatory agencies are not removing unsafe products and that the food sold has been genetically-modified, many people would avoid it completely.

It is certainly wrong to continue to manufacture genetically-modified seeds when the producers of those seeds know that they have serious consequences and may eventually cause illness in those who consume the food grown from those seeds. Yet when, for profit , reliable, safe and natural food seeds are genetically-modified to produce toxins from bacteria that continue to live within a human being, (as is the case with "Bt corn," which comprises 90% of all the corn grown and consumed in the United States) this is precisely what is being done.

When plants are grown from other genetically-modified seeds such as cotton that cause livestock to die when consumed, the trust of the public is betrayed. For thousands of years, farmers have saved seeds and planted them the next season, however, when such seeds are patented, farmers are then compelled to buy the seeds to avoid "patent infringement" lawsuits. 14

Predictably, farmers are more likely to go into debt when they cannot save seeds and plant them the next season. If they cannot afford to pay that debt, they are more likely to lose their farms to the banks and corporations. 15

Industrial and governmental leaders in many nations who are forcing the farmers to use these seeds, one way or another, are deceiving the people for profit, not caring that their actions are causing and will cause immeasurable harm and anguish. 16 Insurance companies that insure farmers for loss of their crops are now refusing to insure farmers who use natural unmodified seeds! Farmers are then coerced to use the genetically-modified seeds or risk losing their farms when a bad season arrives.

When a nation's fields are planted almost exclusively with genetically-engineered seeds made by one or just a few corporations, a seed monopoly or "monocrop" is created without genetic variation or diversification. Should a disease or pest come along to which the genetically-engineered plants are susceptible, an entire nation's or region's crop could be, and are likely to eventually be wiped out, creating widespread famine. This is what happened during the Irish potato famine of the 1840s. Clearly, a mono-crop agricultural system invites disaster.

The industrial leaders and their corporations only care that they profit when the seeds are sold, and that they reap increased profit when farmers have to annually buy new seed from an ever more dominant monopoly. Eventually, the farmer loses his family farm, and mega-farm corporations buy up the land at bargain prices from their friends at the banks who have foreclosed on the property.

So, we are seeing the intended destruction of the small family farm and the creation of ever larger mega-farms run by huge corporations friendly with those in government. This is the culture of death at work in agriculture establishing monopolies that shut out independent farmers.

However, when there is honor in man, honesty, fairness, and integrity govern his actions. When there is honor in man, justice is done and he is faithful to the divine and the natural moral law. Commerce, healthcare, agriculture and technology, science and education are reliably based upon that which is right, and the people are treated well. There are still some cultures where man's honor is valued very highly.

When a sense of honor pervades business and all of society, the independent farmer, physician or businessman prospers and is free to live according to the divine and the natural moral law. This is the way that leads to the culture of life, a way that demonstrates love in action and is faithful to God's will for man.

When there is honor in man, his conscience and sense of the shameful prevent him from doing wrong. Rather than a sense of shame being a wrong , as is commonly taught today by the arrogant, having a sense of shame is necessary to avoid wrong . God has placed a sense of shame within man to help him to not only perceive what is wrong and harmful, but to actually do what is right so that he lives a blessed life.

Rather than fearing those of this world, man would do better to fear God. Even better than fearing God is to have reverence and love for Him. Though proud man distorts the message of life and complains that religion only results in man feeling uncomfortable and guilty, the dear Lord does not want us to live that way at all, but to live rightly, honestly, and to be free of all burdens. He invites us to participate in the culture of life:

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. - Matthew 11:28-30

Nevertheless, proud man, not wishing to acknowledge any authority but himself, finds the way of the Lord inconvenient, an obstacle to his selfish ambitions. He chooses to close his eyes, ears and heart, to defy God, as well as the divine and the natural moral law. He chooses to willfully do the wrong without any fear of man or God. Proud man clings to his hatred, ambitions and greed for so many things, establishing the culture of death.

Endnotes:

1  Reuben Kramer, Class Says Merck Lied About Mumps Vaccine ," Courthouse News, June 27, 2012. Also see:
US HHS OIG, Legal and Investigative Activities Related to Medicare and Medicaid , Semiannual Report to Congress, Spring 2012, Part III. Also see:
Zarychanski, R, et. al., Association of Hydroxyethyl Starch Administration With Mortality and Acute Kidney and Injury in Critically Ill Patients Requiring Volume Resuscitation - A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis , JAMA . 2013;309(7):678-688. doi:10.1001/ jama.2013.430. [Note: re-assessing research findings after the discovery of research fraud resulted in a product that had been widely used and considered safe, to being considered quite harmful, causing acute kidney injury and/or death; just one example of thousands possibly listed] [ Back ]

2  St. Thomas Aquinas, " Of Honesty ," "Treatise on Fortitude and Temperance" Summa Theologica SS, Question 145 [ Back ]

3  Barry Meier, " Former Army Doctor Accused of Research Fraud Takes Leave From University ," The New York Times , May 22, 2009.
Jeffrey M Smith, " Seeds of Deception ," Exposing Industry and Government Lies About the Safety of the Geneticially Engineered Foods You're Eating, Yes! Books , Fairfield, Iowa, USA, 2003.
Staff writers, " Dane indicted for defrauding CDC ," Atlanta Business Chronicle , April 13, 2011.
Freek Vermeulen, " Fraud In The Ivory Tower (And A Big One Too) ," Forbes.com , December, 5, 2011.
Cristina Luiggi, "Blot Figure Fraud - A SUNY graduate student falsifies Western blot data used in meetings, grant applications, and submitted manuscripts," The Scientist , January 4, 2012
Alan Bavley, " Case of two KU scientists illustrates growing problem of research fraud - Fraud and plagiarism are being detected at a greater rate, and some fear problems ahead .," The Kansas City Star , January 29, 2012.
Clare Dyer, " Neuroscientist is disciplined for falsifying data about effects of alcohol in pregnancy ," British Medical Journal , BMJ 2012;344:e1685, March 6, 2012.
Larry Husten, " Prominent Japanese Cardiologist Accused of Scientific Misconduct ," Forbes , March 13, 2012.
Rosalio Ahumada, " Woman Who Ran Surrogacy Company Arrested on Fraud Charges ," Center for Genetics and Society , from the Bellingham Herald, April 20, 2012.
Staff writers, " Harvard Teaching Hospital to Face Trial for Research Fraud ," National Whistleblowers Center , Washington, D.C. May 8, 2012. and other articles too numerous to list here. [ Back ]

4  Robert Jay Lifton, MD, " The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing And The Psychology Of Genocide , Basic Books , 2000. [ Back ]

5  Ron Panzer, Stealth Euthanasia: Healthcare Tyranny in America , Hospice Patients Alliance , 2011. [ Back ]

6  US CDC, U.S. Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee , [Study conducted 1932-72; used as deceptive justification for changing the ethical principles used to safeguard the rights of research participants when the ethical standards already in place forbade what was done in the Tuskegee study; established the secular bioethics further expanding the culture of death approach to research and patient care]; also see:
Manuel Roig-Franzia, " My Kids Were Used As Guinea Pigs' ," SSKRP Law , August, 2001; also see:
John H Noble, Jr, PhD, and Vera Hassner Sharav, MLS, Protecting People with Mental Disabilities and Impairments against Biomedical Research Abuse , Alliance for Human Research Protection , 2005. [ Back ]

7  The Rebecca Project for Human Rights, " Non-Consensual Research in Africa The Outsourcing of Tuskegee ," 2011, (also United Africans for Women & Children Rights, and National Council of Negro Women. [ Back ]

8  Mary Kellett, " Peter's Story ," March 2013, Prenatal Partners for Life & Pro-life Healthcare Alliance [ Back ]

9  Raymond Gasser, PhD (and team) and the Human Developmental Anatomy Center, " The Virtual Human Embryo Project - Carnegie Stages of Human Embryology ," The Endowment for Human Development; also see:
Dianne N Irving, PhD, " Reliable URLs for Human Embryology: The Carnegie Stages of Early Human Embryonic Development ," April, 2011, LifeIssues.net [ Back ]

10  Elliot Institute, " Abortion Risks: A list of major physical complications related to abortion ," Nov 29, 1999, AfterAbortion.org [ Back ]

11  Darrin P Dixon, " Informed consent or institutionalized eugenics? How the medical profession encourages abortion of fetuses with Down syndrome ," Issues Law Med 2008;24:3-59; also see:
Mark W Leach, " Follow the Money: Is the elimination of children with Down syndrome the first sign ," of a new eugenics?, July 22, 2011, MercatorNet.com [ Back ]

12  Gilles-Eric Séralini, et. al., " Genetically modified crops safety assessments: present limits and possible improvements ," Environmental Sciences Europe 2011, 23:10 doi:10.1186/2190-4715-23-10; Jeffrey M Smith, Seeds of Deception , 2003. [ Back ]

13  Alexandra Sifferlin, " California fails to pass genetically modified foods labeling initiative ," Time.com , November, 2012 [ Back ]

14  Andrew Pollack, " Farmer's Supreme Court Challenge Puts Monsanto Patents at Risk ," New York Times , Feb 15, 2013, also see:
Center for Food Safety, Seed Giants vs U.S. Farmers , A Report by the Center for Food Safety & Save Our Seeds, 2013. [ Back ]

15  Staff writers, " India State Bans GMO Bt Cotton Licenses Permanently ," PoliticolNews.com Aug 23, 2012 [ Back ]

16  Steve Elwart, " Congress takes sneaky action on your food - 'Monsanto Protection Act' slipped into continuing resolution spending bill ," April 1, 2013, Worldnetdaily.com . [ Back ]

Ethics of Life Series:

Top