In this episode of The Hope + Help Project, Christine Chappell interviews author/writer Kathryn Butler. They discuss Kathryn's book, Between Life and Death: A Gospel-Centered Guide to End-of-Life Medical Care to help Christians become better equipped to handle medical decisions for incapacitated loved ones. Taking an honest look at how common critical care procedures affect the body, Kathryn discusses what it feels like to wake up as a patient in the ICU, unpacks common misconceptions about what it means to protect the sanctity of life, and shares how the gospel of Jesus Christ gives family members wisdom in the midst of overwhelming medical situations. Kathryn also talks about biblical perspectives on physical health, comforts to cling to when death is imminent, and offers words of support and encouragement for those presently tasked with making medical decisions for a loved one.
An indiscriminate, dogmatic approach to life-sustaining interventions threatens to inflict harm upon the very people we seek to protect. We must be so careful. As we endeavor to preserve life that God himself created, we must acknowledge when our efforts prolong not life but rather a painful death.
About the Podcast
The Hope + Help Project podcast offers compassionate biblical conversations about life's challenging problems. The purpose of the podcast is to share Christ-centered comfort and clarity for those seeking biblical solutions for the struggles they face. The podcast accomplishes this by offering a mix of interviews with seasoned biblical counseling professionals and ministry leaders on a variety of topics. Listeners can expect to receive biblical wisdom as well as practical steps for facing suffering, struggling and sin with courage and grace. Hosted by author/writer Christine M. Chappell.
About the Guest
Kathryn Butler (MD, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons) is a trauma surgeon who is board certified in surgical critical care and served on the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. After a decade of experience in surgery, she left clinical practice in 2016 to homeschool her children. She now writes for Desiring God, Christianity Today, and The Gospel Coalition on topics intersecting faith and medicine.
About the Book
Between Life and Death • Modern medical advances save countless lives. But for all their merits, sophisticated technologies have created a daunting new challenge, namely a blurring of the expanse between life and death. The dying process is often hidden behind a complex web of medical terminology, statistics, and ethical decisions, making it difficult for patients and loved ones to know how to approach the end of life in a dignity-affirming, God-honoring, faith-filled way.
This book offers a distinctly Christian guide to end-of-life care. It equips you by explaining common medical jargon, exploring biblical principles that connect to common medical situations, and offering guidance for making critical decisions. In these pages, you will find the medical knowledge and scriptural wisdom you need to navigate this painful and confusing process with clarity, peace, and discernment.
This book offers a distinctly Christian guide to end-of-life care. It equips you by explaining common medical jargon, exploring biblical principles that connect to common medical situations, and offering guidance for making critical decisions. In these pages, you will find the medical knowledge and scriptural wisdom you need to navigate this painful and confusing process with clarity, peace, and discernment.
Helpful Articles from Kathryn
If God Doesn't Heal You
If we set our eyes only on a cure, rather than on the reality of our physical mortality, we may chase after treatments that not only fail to save us, but which also rob us of our capacities to think, communicate, and pray in our final days. We forget that if our healing is not within God’s will, we will need fortitude, peace, and discernment to endure.
The Doctor May Ask You: Making Urgent Medical Decisions for Loved Ones
Making life-or-death decisions for loved ones cripples many with feelings of guilt and doubt that persist for years, and which can progress to depression, complicated grief, chronic anxiety, and even post-traumatic stress disorder.
So how do we make compassionate, Christ-honoring decisions about our loved ones’ care when the unthinkable happens?
Verses to Memorize for the Hospital
Those of us struggling in the hospital need assurance of God’s goodness and steadfast love more than ever. But a hospital stay, or any ordeal with debilitating illness, doesn’t permit elaborate exegesis. We need verses to which we can cling when the waves of pain seize us and hope shrinks away.
About Your Host
Christine M. Chappell
Author/Writer/Speaker
Christine Chappell is the author of Clean Home, Messy Heart and the host of The Hope + Help Project podcast. Her writing has been featured at Desiring God, Risen Motherhood, Thrive Moms, Servants of Grace, Devotable, and For Every Mom. She writes frequently about suffering, struggling, and sorrowing at her blog, has completed biblical counseling certificates with the Institute for Biblical Counseling & Discipleship, and is currently pursuing certification with the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors.
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