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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When Doctor's Slam The Door

Jauhar, Sandeep. "When Doctor's Slam The Door - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. New York Times, 16 Mar. 2003. [2]

This was from the New York Times magazine. It gives some examples of doctors who refuse to treat patients. It talks about how some doctors refuse to do prodecures on some patients because of how the patient treats himself. Some surgeons in Australis refused to give smokers surgery. It talks about how mandatory reporting mechanisms gives medical providers the incentive to refuse more difficult and complicated patients, other words abuse the conscience rule. A lot more doctors are refusing to treat high-risk patients to keep their records clean.

Kelly

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May Pharmacists Refuse to Fill Prescriptions for Emergency Contraception?

Julie Cantor, & Ken Baum. (2004). The Limits of Conscientious Objection - May Pharmacists Refuse to Fill Prescriptions for Emergency Contraception? The New England Journal of Medicine, 351(19), 2008-12. Retrieved October 28, 2010, from Platinum Periodicals. (Document ID: 731163891). [3]

Mostly background info. Presents both sides of the argument as well as solutions to each side. There are some specific references to Plan B objections.

Madison

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Doctors Deny Lesbians Insemination on Moral Grounds

Chitale, Radha. "Doctors Deny Lesbians Insemination Procedure - ABC News." ABCNews.com - Breaking News, Politics, Online News, World News, Feature Stories, Celebrity Interviews and More - ABC News. ABC, 1 Oct. 2009. Web. [4]

This is an incident that happened last year. Lesbian moms sue doctors for discrimination after being denied intrauterine fertilization because it was against the doctor's conscience.

Kelly

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Doctors challenge right-to-die opposition

Adams, Stephen. "Doctors challenge right-to-die opposition." Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 3 Oct. 2010. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. [5]

This article does not directly say whether or not doctors should be allowed to refuse medical treatment of the terminal ill. However, it hints that doctors should NOT be allowed to refuse medical treatment. If the patient has terminal cancer, he or she should be allowed to choose their death, if they want to to. This article does not discuss whether or not doctors should be allowed to choose whether an unconscious or vegetative person shall live.

Jon

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Sentenced to death on the NHS

Devlin, Kate. "Sentenced to death on the NHS." Telegraph.co.uk. N.p., 2 Sept. 2009. Web. 28 Oct. 2010. [6]

Again, this article hints at the fact doctors should NOT be allowed to choose whether a person can continue living or not. There are too many stipulations that could go wrong making the diagnosis incorrect. For example, someone may be unresponsive, but if taken off "x" medicine, he or she may respond well. This information, however, is not always known. Therefore, doctors are in essence killing people who may not be as close to death as previously expected.

Jon

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Conscience Must Not Undermine Patients’ Autonomy and Access to Care

April, Carolyn W. “2009 Winning Essay Justice in Medicine- Conscience Must Not Undermine Patients’ Autonomy and Access to Care.” American Medical Association Journal of Ethics. N.p., Aug 2010. Web. 26 Oct 2010. [7].

This article begins with a scenario portraying a woman Melanie who was in a same-sex relationship and wanted to have a baby through in vitro fertilization or embryo implantation. A few days after her initial visit, her doctor’s office sent her a note telling her that she should find another doctor because her doctor, Dr. Boyle, couldn’t bring a child into this world if it had to live in a same-sex household. Melanie was outraged and claimed that this was a situation of discrimination. The article continues to say that in the US there are rights protecting physicians who opt out of performing medical services that go against their consciences. The author takes the stand that failing to do things, such as inform patients of all of their options in a situation could cause serious harm to patients and is therefore not acceptable. The author’s main point is that physicians have a duty in their line of work to treat anyone and everyone who would ever need any kind of medical assistance, and that their opinions or religious beliefs get in the way of doing their jobs.

Emily