Category: Lawsuits

Christian doctor lost his job after refusing to identify a six-foot-tall bearded man as ‘madam’, tribunal hears

The Telegraph

Gabriella Swerling

A Christian doctor lost his job in a government department after he refused to refer to “a six-foot-tall bearded man” as ‘madam’, a tribunal heard.

Dr David Mackereth, 56, claims he was sacked as a disability benefits assessor by the Department of Work and Pensions over his religious beliefs.

The father-of-four alleges he was asked in a conversation with a line manager: “If you have a man six foot tall with a beard who says he wants to be addressed as ‘she’ and ‘Mrs’, would you do that?”

Dr Mackereth, an evangelist who now works as an emergency doctor in Shropshire, claims his contract was then terminated over his refusal to use transgendered pronouns. . . [Full text]

Conscience fight moves to the political arena

The Catholic Register

Michael Swan

Having lost twice in court, the battle for conscience rights for health care workers in Ontario is now a political battle.

“We feel we really need legislation,” said Christian Medical and Dental Society of Canada executive director Deacon Larry Worthen. “It’s basically for us a call to action.”

The latest setback came May 15 when the Ontario Court of Appeal ruling upheld a College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) requirement that doctors in the province must give referral for medical services such as assisted dying and abortion that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs. . . [Full text]

Physician, heal thyself: the potential crisis of conscience in Canadian medicine

What if your faith in doctors having conscience was shaken?

The Globe and Mail
Reproduced with permission

Gabrielle Horne*

Physician, heal thyself: the potential crisis of conscience in Canadian medicine“I’m really sorry,” I said, picking the magnifying glass off the floor and checking it wasn’t cracked. “I think it’s okay.”

It was my third day on the witness stand, testifying against doctors from the hospital where I still worked. I couldn’t read the tiny numbers on the document disclosing how much my colleagues were paid, and the hospital lawyer had offered it to me, to end the theatre.

“He’s just softening you up before cross-examination,” my lawyer had said with a wry smile, standing at the podium.

Afterward, I wondered why I’d apologized, in a full courtroom, to this man who had taken a wrecking ball to my life over the previous 10 years. Then it occurred to me: to apologize is a sign of a conscience.

Doctors are expected to have one. Their job is to heal the sick and save lives, and that role evokes an image and expectation of beneficence – doing only good. Doctors invest in that image when they espouse a code of conduct descended from the Hippocratic oath: “I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrongdoing.” Patients also invest in that image and expectation. When illness strikes, they must often put their lives, their confidence and their most vulnerable selves in the hands of doctors they barely know. The expectation of conscience is at the core of the medical pact.

But what if your faith in doctors having conscience was shaken? [Full text]

Photo by Matthew Henry from Burst

Forced Referral and Freedom of Religion vs Freedom of Conscience

Without freedom of conscience our free democracy would not exist

The Epoch Times

Shawn Whatley, MD*

A recent court decision in Ontario missed the mark when it ignored the impact forced referral has on freedom of conscience.

On May 15, the Ontario appeals court ruled that doctors must give patients a referral for euthanasia, abortion, and other contentious issues, regardless of what an individual doctor thinks about them.

The court battle started after the medical regulator in Ontario, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), created a policy that forced doctors to refer for procedures, regardless of doctors’ deeply held convictions of religion or conscience. Doctors who refuse would risk being fined and/or losing their license to practice medicine. . . [Full text]

23 States Sue Feds to Block HHS “Conscience” Rule Permitting Refusal of Care

Non Profit Quarterly

Ruth McCambridge

Twenty-three states joined in a suit filed on May 21st to block a new federal regulation known as the Protecting Statutory Conscience Rights in Health Care rule. Published yesterday in the Federal Register, it would give health care providers, insurers, and employers—as well as a wide range of others, such as ambulance drivers, receptionists, and customer service representatives at insurance companies—the right to refuse to provide or pay for medical services that violate their religious or moral beliefs. These services would include abortion and other reproductive services, as well as assisted suicide. Additionally, any health care provider would risk federal funding if they do not respect the right of these workers to deny service. . . [Full text]