How Catholic Health Care Is Fighting Assisted Suicide

Inside the Providence Portland Medical Center, a short distance from the river splitting Oregon's biggest and trendiest city, a group of doctors, social workers and a chaplain gathers for morning rounds. They take their seats as a woman playing a harp urges them to relax and focus for a few moments. Peaceful chords fill the room. Some of the staff close their eyes. Once finished, she asks the team to “preserve that mellowness as you go through the day” and then gently laughs as she flips on the harsh fluorescent lights, knowing that she has transformed the room back into a beige-walled, industrial-carpeted hospital office.