Refusal of Medical Treatment by Conscience

Return to Fall 2010 Critical Thinking Research Topics

Please post your research below, using the "Finding" template from the Research Topics main page. Just copy and paste it for each finding and fill in the information from your finding. Try to organize findings so that you can add headings later as things accumulate.

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Doctor's Beliefs can Hinder Patient Care

Erdely, Sabrina. Doctor's Beliefs Can Hinder Patient Care: New Laws Shore Up Providers' Right to Refuse Treatment. Self Magazine. MSNCB. 2010. [1]

Lots of good info here arguing on the side of NO they should not be able to refuse. This would probably be considered an editorial. It was originally published in the womens' magazine Self. It has some specific incidents as well as background info and arguments. This article is taking the side that doctors should put their patients first -- not their morals. It has many pertinent examples including a woman seeking Plan B after she had been raped, a woman trying to refill her birth control, a woman seeking an abortion, and a single mother trying to adopt. In all cases the women were judged by their doctors and essentially turned away. It also mentions men seeking vasectomies, or homosexual couples seeking invitro fertilization. It then talks about the logistics of religiously affiliated medical centers, and new legislation that would make conscientious objection legal in some states.

Madison

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