The German Medical Association has acknowledged and apologized for the participation of German physicians in Nazi programs of forced sterilization, euthanasia, and human experimentation. The statement also acknowledged that “leading members of the medical community” were involved. [Washington Post]
Category: Procedures & Services
Artificial reproduction extended in United Kingdom
Britain’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has directed the National Health Service (NHS) to provide artificial reproduction at public expense to homosexual couples and to women up to the age of 42. The change was preceded by the abolition of a legal requirement that a child’s need for a father be taken into account when assessing requests for treatment [The Telegraph].
Prominent Masschusetts physicians advocate civil disobedience
A former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and a professor at Harvard Medical school are urging that American physicians practice civil disobedience by refusing to obey laws that block access to abortion and contraception. “The unspoken assumption by state legislators seems to be that doctors will,” write Marcia Angell and Michael Greene,”. . . acquiesce with these new laws, that they are simply neutral agents who will comply with whatever the state orders.” They argue that physicians “have ethical commitments to patients that they cannot and should not be required by state law to set aside.” [USA Today]
New Guinea bishops object to compulsory condom distribution
Catholic Bishops in Papua New Guinea state that their schools will not comply with a government policy requiring the distribution of condoms to students. The Episcopal Conference is prepared to defend its decision in court should the government try to enforce the policy. [Zenit]
Swedish physicians expected to arrange abortions on demand
A Swedish health authority has ruled that physicians must facilitate abortions if patients request them even if they are doubtful about the mental stability of the patient. The ruling followed a complaint from a woman whose physician cancelled an abortion and recommended that she see a counsellor because of concern that she was not “mentally balanced.” The physician’s decision was prompted by conversation with the patient’s husband the day before the scheduled procedure [The Local].