{"id":8275,"date":"2018-04-02T05:34:51","date_gmt":"2018-04-02T12:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8275"},"modified":"2018-04-11T05:39:28","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T12:39:28","slug":"medical-conscience-is-becoming-a-partisan-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=8275","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Medical Conscience\u2019 Is Becoming a Partisan Controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Review<\/a>
\nReproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n

Wesley J. Smith<\/p>\n

Should doctors and nurses be forced to participate in interventions they find morally abhorrent or unwarranted? As one example, should ethical rules require pediatricians to medically inhibit normal puberty as demanded by parents to \u201ctreat\u201d their child\u2019s gender dysphoria \u2014 even if they are morally opposed to the concept and\/or the supposed treatment?<\/p>\n

Some say yes. Thus, influential bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel argues that medical professionals are obligated to accede to the patient\u2019s right to receive legal interventions if they are generally accepted within the medical community \u2014 specifically including abortion. Emanuel stated doctors who are morally or religiously opposed, should do the procedure anyway or procure a doctor they know will accede to the patient\u2019s demands. Either that, or\u00a0get out of medicine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Supporters of \u201cmedical conscience\u201d argue that forcing doctors to participate in interventions they find morally abhorrent would be involuntary medical servitude. They want to strengthen existing laws that protect doctors, nurses, and pharmacists\u2019 who refuse participation in legal interventions to which they are morally or religiously opposed.<\/p>\n

Now, medical conscience looks to become another battlefront in our bitter partisan divide. After the Trump administration announced rules<\/a> that will place greater emphasis on enforcing federal laws protecting medical conscience, Democratic state attorneys general promised to seek a court order invalidating the new rule. From the New York Law Journal<\/em> story<\/a>:<\/p>\n

But 19 state attorneys general, led by New York\u2019s Eric Schneiderman, argue that it is the patients who will be discriminated against under the proposed rule. This is particularly true, they argue, in the cases of marginalized patients who already face discrimination in trying to obtain health care, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender patients and male patients seeking HIV\/AIDS preventative medications,\u00a0according to the\u00a0comments filed in opposition to the rule<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf adopted, the proposed rule \u2026 will needlessly and carelessly upset the balance that has long been struck in federal and state law to protect the religious freedom of providers, the business needs of employers, and the health care needs of patients,\u201d they state.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The stakes can only increase as moral controversies in health care intensify in coming years. As just two examples, some bioethicists are lobbying to enact laws that would give dementia patients the right to sign an advance directive requiring nursing homes to starve them to death once they reach a specified level of cognitive decline. There are also increasing calls to do away with the dead-donor rule in transplant medicine so that PVS patients can be organ-harvested while still alive<\/p>\n

If these acts become legal, should doctor and nurses who practice in these fields be forced to participate? If Emanuel\u2019s opinion prevails, the answer could be yes. If medical professionals are protected by medical conscience legal protections, the answer would be no.<\/p>\n

Medical conscience is not just important to personally affected professionals. All of us have a stake. Think about the potential talent drain we could face if we force health-care professionals to violate their moral beliefs. Experienced doctors and nurses might well take Emanuel\u2019s advice and get out of medicine \u2014 while talented young people who could add so much to the field may avoid entering health-care professions altogether.<\/p>\n

Comity is essential to societal cohesion in our moral polyglot age. Medical conscience allows patients to obtain morally contentious procedures, while permitting dissenting medical professionals to stay true to their own moral and religious beliefs. I hope the Democrats\u2019 lawsuits are thrown out of court.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Review Reproduced with permission Wesley J. Smith Should doctors and nurses be forced to participate in interventions they find morally abhorrent or unwarranted? As one example, should ethical rules require pediatricians to medically inhibit normal puberty as demanded by parents to \u201ctreat\u201d their child\u2019s gender dysphoria \u2014 even if they are morally opposed to … Continue reading “\u2018Medical Conscience\u2019 Is Becoming a Partisan Controversy”<\/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":[4,5,7,28],"tags":[3414,2332,362],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-ethics","category-law","category-usa","tag-ezekiel-emanuel","tag-us-dept-of-health-and-human-services-hhs","tag-wesley-j-smith"],"yoast_head":"\r\n\u2018Medical Conscience\u2019 Is Becoming a Partisan Controversy - 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=8275\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u2018Medical Conscience\u2019 Is Becoming a Partisan Controversy - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"National Review Reproduced with permission Wesley J. Smith Should doctors and nurses be forced to participate in interventions they find morally abhorrent or unwarranted? 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