Category: United States

AMA Reaffirms Stance Against Physician-Aided Death

Medscape

Marcia Frellick

CHICAGO — Delegates voted overwhelmingly to affirm the current policy opposing physician-assisted dying here at the American Medical Association (AMA) 2019 Annual Meeting.

After impassioned testimony from both sides at last year’s meeting, the Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs was asked to further examine the issue.

“The AMA House of Delegates concluded that established guidance in the Code of Medical Ethics supports shared decisions that respect the deeply held beliefs of physicians and their patients with respect to assisted suicide,” said AMA President Barbara McAneny, MD. . . [Full text]

American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Academy of Neurology

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]

HHS Final Conscience Rule and Protected Employees

Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC

Robin M. Sheridan and Lindsey Croasdale

On May 2, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) announced the issuance of the final conscience rule, which prohibits discrimination of individuals on the basis of their exercise of conscience in HHS-funded programs. The rule has not yet been published in the Federal Register, but HHS has released an unofficial version of the document. This rule will be effective 60 days after is it published in the Federal Register. . . [Full text]

Physician Participation in Lethal Injection

Deborah W. Denno

On April 1, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Missouri death-row inmate’s claim that executing him using the state’s lethal-injection protocol would violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” because blood-filled tumors in his head, neck, and throat could rupture and cause him to choke and suffer “excruciating” and “prolonged pain.”. . . the opinion’s unusual facts and circumstances throw into sharp relief the pervasiveness of physician participation in lethal injection despite the medical community’s professed condemnation of such involvement. . .

Denno DW. Physician Participation in Lethal Injection. N Engl J Med 2019; 380:1790-1791 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp1814786

Chairmen of U.S. Bishops’ Conference Commend Administration on New Regulations Protecting Rights of Conscience in Health Care

News Release

US Conference of Catholic Bishops

WASHINGTON—Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Pro-Life Activities and Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz of Louisville, Chairman of the bishops’ Committee for Religious Liberty, have issued a statement commending today’s adoption of new regulations that ensure existing laws protecting conscience rights in healthcare are enforced and followed.

Their joint statement follows:  

“We strongly commend the Department of Health and Human Services for adopting important new regulations to ensure that existing laws protecting the rights of conscience in health care are known, followed and enforced.

Though these laws were passed on a bipartisan basis and have been policy for years, the previous administration did not fully enforce them, and now they are increasingly being violated. Health care providers like New York nurse Cathy DeCarlo and medical trainees have been coerced into participating in the brutal act of abortion against their core beliefs, while churches and others who oppose abortion are being compelled by states like California to cover elective abortion—including late-term abortion—in their health plans. We are grateful that this Administration is taking seriously its duty to enforce these fundamental civil rights laws, and we look forward to swift action by HHS to remedy current violations in several states.

Conscience protection should not fluctuate as administrations change. It is essential that Congress provide permanent legislative relief through passage of the Conscience Protection Act in order to give victims of discrimination the ability to defend their rights in court. No one should be forced to violate their deeply held convictions about the sanctity of human life.”

Media Contact:
Judy Keane
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