Can Your Doctor Refuse to Treat You on Moral Grounds?
This is a topic I read about in a recent issue of one of my many magazines, and I can’t find the one: doctors refusing to prescribe birth control and other treatments because it conflicts with their religious beliefs.For religious reasons, I as a patient refuse certain treatments, but I was shocked to learn that doctors can say that they won’t treat me because of a religious objection. The religious side of me understands where they’re coming from, but the patient side of me doesn’t give a rat’s patootie. If you sign up to provide medical care, you have to do it. At least, that’s what I think.Check out this video from CNN Health. What do you think?
Tags: Birth control, contraception, controversy, doctor-refuse-treatment, moral-objections, religious-grounds, woman, women, Womens-HealthRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Abortion, Body, Controversial issues, Medicine, Religion, Wellness
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3 opinions for Can Your Doctor Refuse to Treat You on Moral Grounds?
Ashley
Dec 10, 2007 at 8:23 am
I disagree completely. All doctor’s are required by the Hippocratic oath to provide emergency care - if your life is in danger, they must do whatever is necessary to care for you (even when they know that they will not be paid for emergency appendectomies if the patient does not have insurance). And they do. But a doctor should not be required to violate his personal morals in order to provide care that you could receive elsewhere, from another doctor.
gigi
Dec 27, 2007 at 4:47 am
I’ve recently heard of a case where a woman was raped. when she called police, they had to arrest her due to a warrant for unpaid traffic tickets from yrs prior. While in the jail (and obviously traumatized) the nurse refused to administer the morning after pill because it was against her religion. This is ridiculous and selfish of any caretaker, doctor or nurse. It is cruel and unfair to expect a rape victim to not only have to worry about catching a disease from the monster who raped her, but also preventing a pregnancy. People who cannot have an open mind should not be in the health field.
Nan
Jan 10, 2008 at 6:42 am
Hello all. So what do you do when you have severe arthritis, go to a family doctor who is young and inexperienced - and she shuffles you around to twenty + tests, exams, specialists and excessive, expensive & invasive treatments, etc. and then will not give a proper and adequate pill for relief of the spasms, pain and inflammation - because, Get This - because I am abusing aspirin by taking 3 to 4 tablets , 3 or 4 times a day to take the pain off.
If she would REPLACE the aspirin with a pill that was given at E.R. during ‘the day it started’..and worked - I would gladly give up aspirin. But until I can pass a blood test, & pee test that I have not been taking aspirin - I can’t get the right med. ?!
So what’s she expect ya to do while you give up aspirin and still hurt ? Gee, she forgot to explain how I am feeling while I wait ? Does the bad back just miraculously be quiet because it’s her method ? Is she gonna pay my bills ? hmmmm?
Oh help.
I just needed to rant, and your blog came up really high in the search engine !
Thanks a ton my angels for listening.
Nan
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