{"id":5649,"date":"2015-03-06T04:05:05","date_gmt":"2015-03-06T12:05:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649"},"modified":"2018-03-07T16:19:54","modified_gmt":"2018-03-08T00:19:54","slug":"cpss-undermines-supreme-court-of-canada-affirms-conscience-rights-for-saskatchewan-doctors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649","title":{"rendered":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>News Release<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"author\"><span class=\"din\">Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"ReleaseContent\" class=\"content\">\n<p><span class=\"xn-location\">SASKATOON<\/span>, <span class=\"xn-chron\">March 6, 2015<\/span> \/CNW\/ &#8211; Several Saskatchewan physicians, including Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Amos Akinbiyi<\/span>, Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Philip Fitzpatrick<\/span>, and Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Randy Friesen<\/span>, released a letter and legal brief (see below), today, describing how the conscience rights of <span class=\"xn-location\">Saskatchewan<\/span> doctors are undermined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of <span class=\"xn-location\">Saskatchewan<\/span> (CPSS) draft policy on requirements for physicians and surgeons and upheld by the Supreme Court of <span class=\"xn-location\">Canada&#8217;s<\/span> recent decision on assisted suicide in <i>Carter, et al<\/i>.<\/p>\n<p>Said Dr. <span class=\"xn-person\">Philip Fitzpatrick<\/span>, &#8220;In the recent <i>Carter<\/i> decision from the Supreme Court, they made explicit reference to conscience rights, and that physicians could not be forced to participate in an abortion or euthanasia. But the CPSS&#8217;s draft policy would require me to make a formal referral to another physician where my conscience would not permit me to do those procedures, and could require me to do it myself.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The letter and brief (see below) were initiated by physicians who are members of the <i>Christian Medical and Dental Society of <span class=\"xn-location\">Canada<\/span> <\/i>(CMDS) and the <i>Canadian Federation of Catholic Physicians&#8217; Societies <\/i>(CFCPS).<\/p>\n<p>CPSS is circulating a draft policy that would require physicians and surgeons to make a formal referral of patients to a physician or surgeon who would be willing to perform the legally permissible and publicly funded health services, irrespective of conscience rights. If another physician were not available to perform the service, the physician would be required to provide the service, whether or not performing the service conflicted with conscience.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The CPSS seems to be creating conflicts between medical doctors&#8217; conscience rights and patient care unnecessarily. No doctors concerned about conscience rights would put their patients&#8217; health and well-being in jeopardy. I find that patients are very appreciative of my concern for their health and of my outlining all the options and alternatives for treatment,&#8221; said Dr. Friesen.<\/p>\n<p>In their letter to CPSS and the accompanying legal brief, the <span class=\"xn-location\">Saskatchewan<\/span> doctors outlined their concerns with the draft policy and how a few amendments to it would provide the conscience rights protections upheld by the Court.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;<span class=\"xn-location\">Saskatchewan<\/span> is a dynamic province with a growing population. <span class=\"xn-location\">Saskatchewan<\/span> needs physicians, especially General Practitioners. GPs would be most affected by the CPSS policy. Our province will have a hard time keeping and recruiting GPs to serve communities where they would be required by the policy as now drafted to make care decisions they believe will harm patients,&#8221; added Dr. Akinbiyi.<\/p>\n<p><i>CMDS represents more than 1600 physicians, surgeons and dentists across <span class=\"xn-location\">Canada<\/span> and CFCPS is a national association of Catholic physicians&#8217; guilds, associations and societies from eleven cities across <span class=\"xn-location\">Canada<\/span>.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><strong>Letter<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/goo.gl\/nKi6JN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">http:\/\/goo.gl\/nKi6JN<\/span><\/span><\/a> and the <strong>Legal Brief<\/strong>: <a href=\"http:\/\/goo.gl\/Nf3Bp7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #0066cc;\">http:\/\/goo.gl\/Nf3Bp7<\/span><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>SOURCE Christian Medical and Dental Society of <span class=\"xn-location\">Canada<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For further information: Larry Worthen, (902) 880-2495<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News Release Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada SASKATOON, March 6, 2015 \/CNW\/ &#8211; Several Saskatchewan physicians, including Dr. Amos Akinbiyi, Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Randy Friesen, released a letter and legal brief (see below), today, describing how the conscience rights of Saskatchewan doctors are undermined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,10,19],"tags":[3886,1525,1540],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-news-releases","category-repression-of-conscience","tag-christian-medical-and-dental-association-canada","tag-college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-of-saskatchewan","tag-philip-fitzpatrick"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"News Release Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada SASKATOON, March 6, 2015 \/CNW\/ &#8211; Several Saskatchewan physicians, including Dr. Amos Akinbiyi, Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Randy Friesen, released a letter and legal brief (see below), today, describing how the conscience rights of Saskatchewan doctors are undermined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of &hellip; Continue reading &quot;CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649\"},\"wordCount\":478,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Christian Medical and Dental Association (Canada)\",\"College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan\",\"Philip Fitzpatrick\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Canada\",\"News Releases\",\"Repression of Conscience\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649\",\"name\":\"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=5649#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project News\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"\",\"contentUrl\":\"\",\"caption\":\"Protection of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/ConscienceProject\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\r\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News","og_description":"News Release Christian Medical Dental Society of Canada SASKATOON, March 6, 2015 \/CNW\/ &#8211; Several Saskatchewan physicians, including Dr. Amos Akinbiyi, Dr. Philip Fitzpatrick, and Dr. Randy Friesen, released a letter and legal brief (see below), today, describing how the conscience rights of Saskatchewan doctors are undermined by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of &hellip; Continue reading \"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors\"","og_url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject","article_published_time":"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@consciencepro","twitter_site":"@consciencepro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors","datePublished":"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649"},"wordCount":478,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["Christian Medical and Dental Association (Canada)","College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan","Philip Fitzpatrick"],"articleSection":["Canada","News Releases","Repression of Conscience"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649","name":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors - Protection of Conscience Project News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-03-06T12:05:05+00:00","dateModified":"2018-03-08T00:19:54+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5649#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CPSS undermines, Supreme Court of Canada affirms conscience rights for Saskatchewan doctors"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project News","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protection of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"","contentUrl":"","caption":"Protection of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencepro","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5432"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5650,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5649\/revisions\/5650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5649"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=5649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}