{"id":5852,"date":"2014-06-27T20:30:06","date_gmt":"2014-06-28T03:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5852"},"modified":"2018-03-08T16:43:35","modified_gmt":"2018-03-09T00:43:35","slug":"should-doctors-have-the-right-to-refuse-to-treat-a-patient","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5852","title":{"rendered":"Should doctors have the right to refuse to treat a patient?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>The Globe and Mail<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"author\">Kelly Grant<\/p>\n<p>Canada&#8217;s largest medical regulator is reviewing its policy on physicians and the human rights code, a document that wrestles with a thorny question: When can a doctor refuse to treat a patient on religious or moral grounds?<\/p>\n<p>The review by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is a regularly scheduled revisiting of the policy, which was last updated amid controversy in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>But the checkup also comes a few months after word spread online and in the mainstream media of a form letter distributed by three Ottawa doctors who declined to prescribe birth control because of their &#8220;religious values,&#8221; a rare example of physicians openly refusing \u2013 in writing \u2013 to provide services for religious reasons.<\/p>\n<p>In another case that surfaced this week, a Calgary woman posted to Facebook a picture of a sign on the door of a walk-in clinic that read: &#8220;Please be informed the physician on duty today will not prescribe the birth control pill,&#8221; although the sign did not explain why. . . [<a href=\"http:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/life\/health-and-fitness\/health\/do-doctors-have-right-to-refuse-to-treat\/article19383553\/\" target=\"_blank\">Full text<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Globe and Mail Kelly Grant Canada&#8217;s largest medical regulator is reviewing its policy on physicians and the human rights code, a document that wrestles with a thorny question: When can a doctor refuse to treat a patient on religious or moral grounds? The review by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=5852\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Should doctors have the right to refuse to treat a patient?&#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":[32,650,9],"tags":[1772,54,385,1475,384],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-5852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-canada","category-contraception","category-news","tag-agnes-tanguay","tag-alberta","tag-college-of-physicians-and-surgeons-of-ontario","tag-marc-gabel","tag-ontario"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Should doctors have the right to refuse to treat a patient? - 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=5852\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Should doctors have the right to refuse to treat a patient? - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Globe and Mail Kelly Grant Canada&#8217;s largest medical regulator is reviewing its policy on physicians and the human rights code, a document that wrestles with a thorny question: When can a doctor refuse to treat a patient on religious or moral grounds? 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