{"id":5018,"date":"2014-08-04T23:01:17","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T06:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5018"},"modified":"2018-03-05T22:34:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-06T06:34:11","slug":"submission-to-the-college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-of-ontario-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5018","title":{"rendered":"Submission to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freedom of Professional Judgment<\/h2>\n

Canadian Physicians for Life<\/a><\/p>\n

I would like to thank the CPSO for inviting comment about its Policy Statement #5-08, \u201cPhysicians and the Ontario Human Rights Code.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CPSO policy is fair and should not change.<\/p>\n

Some, and I would hope most,\u00a0 Canadian physicians wish to practice as professionals in a free country,\u00a0 and to use their hard-won medical wisdom in the service only of the patient who presents with the unique circumstances of an individual life. This excludes treating the patient as a means to an end, political or otherwise, but rather the doctor\u2019s judgment should be fearlessly focused on the physical and mental integrity of the patient.<\/p>\n

In recent years various activists have attempted to impugn certain medical decisions in controversial situations, notably requests for abortion or for\u00a0 potentially abortifacient drugs.\u00a0 The activists wish to portray their ideological opponents as driven by purely private (usually religious) prejudices which have no place in medical practice.<\/p>\n

The CPSO\u00a0 should decline to be used by such activists as an instrument to suppress their critics, for in reality that is all that is going on with demands that physicians be forced to refer for, or perform, certain acts.<\/p>\n

If a physician has come to the conclusion that induced abortion would be bad for a certain patient and fatal for her child, the CPSO is in a good position to recognize this opinion\u00a0 as resulting from the healthy application of medical judgment.\u00a0 Some activists wish to malign such decisions\u00a0 by casting them\u00a0 as\u00a0 creatures\u00a0 of a whimsical\u00a0 \u201cconscience\u201d as opposed to an obedience to\u00a0 \u201cprofessionalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

These activists have a debased understanding of\u00a0 both concepts.\u00a0 The free application of a\u00a0 good conscience directs\u00a0 the doctor to offer selfless professional judgment to each human being he or she has the honour to advise and treat.<\/p>\n

The concept of \u201cconscience\u201d should never be used to cloak an agenda hidden from the patient, and the concept of \u201cprofessionalism\u201d should never be turned on its head to subjugate professional judgment to a political ideology or to persecute those who show\u00a0 ethical courage.<\/p>\n

I wish the CPSO endurance in resisting the erosion of its members\u2019\u00a0 freedom to do the right thing for their patients.<\/p>\n

Yours cordially,<\/p>\n

Will Johnston MD
\nPresident, Canadian Physicians for Life
\n495 West 40th Ave.
\nVancouver BC V5Y 2R5<\/p>\n

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