To what extent a doctor or pharmacist can exercise his or her personal beliefs on patients is being heatedly debated.
A new regulation is coming up that would redefine what medical conscience is.
On one side, the Secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt’s side, there is a concern that doctor’s will be “forced” to perform certain surgeries – like abortion or to hand out certain medications – like birth control.
On the other side, what right does a doctor have to deny someone a procedure and medication that are perfectly legal? How far can a physician go in using his/her personal beliefs to deny someone care?
Leavitt’s personal blog has pages of comments that you can read through here: http://secretarysblog.hhs.gov/my_weblog/2008/08/physician-consc.html
The National Organization of Women has an issue page here: http://www.capwiz.com/now/issues/alert/?alertid=11958671
I can’t find back where I’ve read this, but I remember that Italy currently has a problem with this: there’re more and more physicians who use the objection of conscience and refuse to practice abortions. It makes it quite harder for a woman to abort.
Meh, it’s not the reference I was thinking about, but this article here tells us that about 70% of Italian obstetricians won’t practice an abortion, and that yes, it causes delays for women who want one: http://www.abtreibung-avortement.info/fr/facts/italie.htm
I wonder if people had this debate regarding midwives in the old days before male doctors appropriated healing. When I go to a doctor, that person is performing a service. I pay that person for the service. If that person is not willing to do the job, then maybe that person should get the hell out of the business.
I wonder what the discussion would be if I were a doctor and refused to give men Viagra.
I wonder what the discussion would be if I refused to treat infertile couples because I believe the population is already growing too fast.
I wonder…