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TRANSCRIPT
Dr. John Bruchalski, OB-GYN physician and author: "I was beginning to see experientially the total break between what medicine was and is and can be and what we were doing with it."
A Virginia physician is going public in a new book, explaining how he abandoned the faithful practices of his Polish Catholic upbringing, began performing abortions and eventually found the mercy of God.
Two Patients is Dr. John Bruchalski's account of how an incident during his residency began his journey away from being pro-choice to establishing a child-welcoming, family-centered OB-GYN practice.
In one room, a mother was struggling to keep her child from being born too early; in another room, a mother was asking Bruchalski to abort her child.
Dr. John Bruchalski:
I obliged because that's what we do. We took what the mother said about her child, and I broke the water and gave her medicine to deliver the child. I delivered this child that I had to throw on a scale and measure its weight to see whether it met the status of a human life.
It was a pointed question from a colleague that played a major role in awakening him.
Dr. Bruchalski: "A young doctor, a young NICU doctor, a neonatal intensive care doctor, came in and challenged me and said, 'Why are you treating my patient like a tumor?' And I was shocked, and she asked me to coffee the next morning to elaborate on that."
It wasn't the first time Bruchalski had been asked a pointed question. Between medical school and his residency, he visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Dr. Bruchalski: "But to see it firsthand, even though I wasn't truly believing at the time, was unbelievable. While I was there, off to one side, contemplating what all this meant, I heard a voice that said, 'Why are you hurting me?'"
He walked away that day, ignoring the question. But eventually, it inspired his 28-year practice named Tepeyac OB/GYN.
Bruchalski's unique practice of medicine has earned him awards from a number of noted Catholic institutions, including one this year from Notre Dame.
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