Patients Rights or Doctor's Morals? (1 Viewer)

[Pure Energy]

Dr. Cynthia Jones-Nosacek... is part of an increasingly vocal group of Christian doctors who call themselves conscientious objectors. They refuse to provide abortions, sterilizations and contraception.

"I think a doctor should have the right not to be forced to practice medicine in a way that would go against their moral beliefs," Jones-Nosacek said.
In other cases, doctors have refused to remove ventilators or feeding tubes from terminally ill patients, and refused to prescribe Viagra to unmarried men.

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2662616&page=1

 

[tomwaits]

who cares. You morans will give the feds whatever power they want, and they will allow doctors to do whatever as long as can do what they want to get them re-elected.

Most of you don't even care to vote. I thank you for that. stay home and eat instead of voting.

 

[Pure Energy]

who cares. You morans will give the feds whatever power they want, and they will allow doctors to do whatever as long as can do what they want to get them re-elected.

Most of you don't even care to vote. I thank you for that. stay home and eat instead of voting.

:interrogations: What was your point? Are you proud of yourself because you voted this past election?

This thread is about doctors who refuse to provide medical treatments that conflict with their moral beliefs.

 

[BullDawg]

My question would not be centered on patient's rights (since they also have the right to find another doctor), but how it jives with the Hippocratic Oath.

<center>[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, Geneva]Hippocratic Oath&#8212;Modern Version

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.


Written in 1964 by Louis Lasagna, Academic Dean of the School of Medicine at Tufts University, and used in many medical schools today.</center>[/FONT]

 

[Squeezebox]

How is it a big problem? I don't think anyone should force a doctor to do anything that to which he is morrally opposed, especially if these oppositions deal with genuine moral delimmas (abortion, euthanasia).

If you need Viagra (TPS) and your doc won't prescribe it, then you go to another doctor, no?

 

[Taurus]

For whom do the doctors work? Private practice, or an HMO? If they're salaried employees of an HMO, they have no leg to stand on. You do what you are employed to do or find another job.

If in private practice, one would hope that they would put the health of their patient above a narrow moral code.

 

[Squeezebox]

But don't you think that at least some leeway should be given in cases like abortion? When you have such a huge portion of the country that believes it to be wrong, it seems a bit unfair to see that all doctors should be forced to perform it, regardless of their moral beliefs.

I think things like birth control should be universal, so all doctors should practice that. But abortion is different, because those who think abortion is wrong believe that abortion = killing someone. If they honestly think that abortion = killing, then how can you expect them to perform one?

And it's not as if there are no good armguments for pro-life. I don't define any pro-lifer as having a "narrow moral code."

 

[Pure Energy]

If a Plastic Surgeon refused to do a Breast Augmentation for a stripper or a nose job for a movie star would they be within their rights? Clearly it's something the patient wants, the surgeon is capable of performing, but perhaps the surgeon only chooses to perform these procedures out of medical necessity--women who have had a radical mastectomy or treatment for a burn victim.

It's just an interesting dilema since most would probably think the doctor would provide any treatment they are capable of performing for the money. :hmmm:

 

[CT Saints Fan]

If a Plastic Surgeon refused to do a Breast Augmentation for a stripper or a nose job for a movie star would they be within their rights?

That happens all the time. A surgeon can refuse if they think the patient is having too much plastic surgery, or is getting it done for the wrong reasons.

 

[Taurus]

Yup. Except in those cases, the doctor is basing his decision on what he thinks is best for the patient's health. IE: Too many plastic surgeries (or any truly unnecessary surgery) isn't healthy.

In the other cases, the doctor has abandoned the idea of what's right for the patient in favor of what feels good to the doctor.

If you're in the ER and they bring in a pregnant gunshot victim, you may have to decide to save the mother by aborting the fetus. Do you want your wife treated by a supposed "physician" who will stand aside and let both die because abortion is against their religion? (Extreme example, I know...we can hope it never comes to that.)

On the contraceptives bit...contraceptives are commonly prescribed for actual conditions, not just to prevent pregnancy. They help regulate some women's hormones, for instance and are one of the methods accepted when a female is taking Accutane or another teratogenic drug.

IMHO, the first, foremost and ultimately overriding concern of anyone who calls themselves a doctor should be the health and wellbeing of their patient. Yea verily, even above the tenets of their faith.

 

[shane]

"IMHO, the first, foremost and ultimately overriding concern of anyone who calls themselves a doctor should be the health and wellbeing of their patient."

In the case of abortion, some doctors believe the baby or fetus to be the patient as well.

 

[aj]

I'm not sure about all hospitals but many have a policy that any employee does not have to participate in care that they are opposed to - the employee has rights including doctors - many of the objections people are talking about rarely occur in an emergency setting - thus the patient has the option to see another doctor

 

[Pure Energy]

:hmmm:
Here's another one: What if research concludes better outcomes for patients when the surgeon prays for 5 minutes prior to the procedure?

If some surgeons disagreed with the concept of praying would they be within their rights not to pray before performing the surgery?

 

[Rickboy]

Let's look at a few comparisons. Muslim cab drivers have been refusing to pickup anyone whose drunk. Never mind the fact that they could be saving that persons life by preventing him from driving. In Canada Muslims have refused to pickup blind people because they have a seeing eye dog with them. Muslims aren't supposed to associate with dogs.

In both of these cases the person doing the job has used their religious beliefs to keep from doing the job they chose to do. I think the common opinion is that if you choose to do a job then you are to do that job or find another one.

Here is where the question lies, however. IMHO, a Doctor can make the argument that performing an abortion is not only against his religious beliefs but is also against the Hippocratic Oath to do no harm. However I think they are on a lot shakier ground when it comes to refusing fertility treatments to gay couples. Still, some of these religious beliefs can be "interpreted" as being in line with the Hippocratic Oath. It will probably fall to the courts to determine where they cross the line.

 

[jojo223]

Patients Rights and Universal Health Care go hand in hand in my opinion.