A 19 year old girl who was seriously injured in a car crash in October, 2011, narrowly escaped having vital organs removed for transplant following what appears to have been a misdiagnosis by attending physicians. After consulting with the family, they removed a respirator and ceased treatment. However, the girl regained consciousness as they were preparing to harvest her organs. [Medical Daily]
Category: News
Over 100 plaintiffs in lawsuits against U.S. government birth control mandate
The Becket Fund reports that more than 100 plaintiffs have now joined lawsuits against the federal government as a result of an administration regulation that forces employers to provide insurance for birth control and sterilization even if they object for reasons of conscience. [Becket Fund HHS Page]
UN Human Rights Commission demands suppression of freedom of conscience
The UN Human Rights Commison has issued a document that purports to base the restriction or suppression of freedom of conscience among health care workers on human rights claims. Technical guidance on the application of a human rights based approach to the implementation of policies and programmes to reduce preventable maternal morbidity and mortality. Section 30 of the document calls for changing laws and policies that allow conscientious objection “to hinder women’s access to a full range of services.” Section 61 states that laws, polices and regulations that allow “unregulated conscientious objection” should be changed, and “newly established obligations of providers and rights of individual users should be disseminated.” The resolution was endorsed by New Zealand, Burkina Faso, and Colombia and enumerates access to abortion among “sexual and reproductive health rights.” 20 of the 47 council members opposed the text. The UN General Assembly will consider adopting it later in October. [CFAM]
Appeal of Missouri court ruling on HHS birth control mandate
U.S. District Judge Carole Jackson of St. Louis has dismissed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services mandate brought by Frank O’Brien and his company, O’Brien Industrial Holdings LLC of St. Louis. The suit challenged the federal government regulation that requires O’Brien to provide employees with insurance for contraceptives, embryocides and surgical sterilization. A Catholic, O’Brien objects to facilitating any of the services for religious reasons. The judge ruled that the indirect support did not substantially burden the free exercise of O’Brien’s religious beliefs. Lawyer Frank Manion of the American Center for Law and Justice has filed an appeal on behalf of O’Brien. [ACLJ comment][St. Louis-Post Dispatch][Religion Dispatches]
U.S. Catholic Medical Association focuses on freedom of conscience
600 Catholic physicians attending a four day conference in St. Paul, Minnesota, were warned that they are practising medicine in an increasingly toxic culture and that even physicians who do not follow Church teaching may be forced to do things that they believe to be wrong. Bishop Robert Vasa of Santa Rosa, California told the audience that “American Catholic physicians, have to wake up to the fact that they can no longer presume that their individual choices about how they practice medicine in this country will be respected.” John Brehany, the CMA’s executive director, described the current situation in the United States as a “very dangerous crisis.” [NCR]