(no subject)

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/02/19/946995/-Obama-administration-rescinds-Bushs-conscience-rule-for-medical-providers

The Obama administration on Friday rescinded most of a 2008 rule that granted sweeping protections to health care providers who opposed abortion, sterilization and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.

Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said the rule, issued in the last days of the Bush administration, could “negatively impact patient access to contraception and certain other medical services.”


It's good to see that common sense CAN sometimes prevail in DC. There isn't a place for conscientious objectors in medicine.The patient is the one who makes the decisions which is as it should be. I know I wouldn't want to have to go hunting for an atheist doctor if a medical choice I wanted to make conflicted with that of my regular doctor.

Plus, it's a kick in the balls to the religious right which is always nice.

Comments

[bex.livejournal.com]

I know I wouldn't want to have to go hunting for an atheist doctor if a medical choice I wanted to make conflicted with that of my regular doctor.

Or if you could only afford the insurance plan offered by your employer, which didn't allow you to see any doctors outside the plan... and for some reason only included doctors who were anti-abortion or anti-contraception or whatever.

Or if you were poor and had no access to a vehicle, and thus depended on your city's bus routes to get access to a health care provider, thus limiting your choice.

Yeah, this is a good thing. I am glad. Today has been so full of sadness and frustration, I needed a pick-me-up.

[sealwhiskers.livejournal.com]

It was a good move on their part, they need to show more spine in general and stand by their own party mainstream expressions.

[hey-its-michael.livejournal.com]

Sweet. That's the person I voted for!

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Anti-abortionists should not work in that field any more than vegans should run slaughterhouses.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

What an analogy!

I actually know a person who turned vegan after working in the meat industry. Are there people who turned anti-choice because of all the casual abortions they witnessed? Hmm....

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

I do know one doctor who only performed ONE.

[dierdrae.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaaay!

[dwer.livejournal.com]

finally. If I were a Jehovah's Witness, it would not behoove me to take a job at a blood bank if I were not willing to do the work.

[mijopo.livejournal.com]

There isn't a place for conscientious objectors in medicine.

Of course, there is. To go from "medical practice X is allowed under the law" to "every doctor/medical provider must perform X" is too big a leap. You're saying that all doctors may and should be obligated to perform abortions up to the day of birth or that they may and should be obligated to perform euthanasia on anyone who asks even if they morally disagree with the decision the person is making.

I agree that bush's restrictions were far too vague and that we don't, for example, want to allow pharmacists to refuse to give birth control or allow a nurse who has taken a job in a hospice to be able to refuse to dispense morphine that could have the secondary effect of hastening a death, but that's a lot different from a blanket claim that "There isn't a place for conscientious objectors in medicine."

[mijopo.livejournal.com]

should be obligated to perform euthanasia

in the rare situations in the US in which euthanasia is permitted by law, of course.

[anosognosia.livejournal.com]

"'There isn't a place for conscientious objectors in medicine.'

Of course, there is."

Moreover, conscientious objection to various procedures is an ineliminable part of the clinical judgment which is exercised daily by medical professionals.

But that's not really the question here.

The question is rather whether the exercise of that judgment ought to be protected by law such that no consequences can arise from it for the practitioner, or rather whether, while being required to exercise such judgment, overzealous or insufficient restraint can indeed lead to substantial consequences.

Using another's analogy: in fact we expect bus drivers to conscientiously object to applying the gas in a wide number of scenarios. But if their judgment on this manner sufficiently varies from their employer's expectations, they'll tend to face some consequences. Should we intervene to protect the bus driver from these consequences?

[geezer-also.livejournal.com]

I'm going no further in this thread until I take this opportunity to agree with you (who knows how long it will be before it happens again ;D)

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

So you can legislate morality?

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

People who fight to put the Ten Commandments on public property seem to think so.

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

Somehow if Jews were to lobby to ban all pork in eating because God says pigs are not good to eat, I doubt you'd be so cavalier about it. If they did that in conjunction with Muslims, the sheer sound of the heads a'splodin' would be interesting.

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

So what's next, will the government start telling doctors what procedures they can or cannot do? what pills they can or cannot prescribe? Oh, I forgot, that's all in obamacare.

Um,

[meus-ovatio.livejournal.com]

You do know that this is exactly what the government does right? Doctors can't prescribe unapproved medications. Doctors can't perform unapproved procedures... is this like when someone finds out that stoplights exist, and they go ape-shit about freedom?

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

Do you not know how things like the FDA work?

Lay off that kickin' chicken you're getting from those farmers if you want to do yourself a favor.

[squidb0i.livejournal.com]

ZOmG DETH PANULZ

[underlankers.livejournal.com]

[paedraggaidin.livejournal.com]

Ahh, there are reasons she's my favorite politician. She kept those bastards from Big Coal at bay too until her successor took over as governor and promptly sucked their carbon-laced...well, nevermind.

Although, I do think there should be some leeway for doctors who have religious or moral reasons for not performing certain procedures (or prescribing certain meds), so long as people aren't flat-out denied access to care they may need. I think either extreme is bad here, for patients and doctors.

[kawaiimamimi.livejournal.com]

Yay, this makes me glad.

Plus, it's a kick in the balls to the religious right which is always nice.

This doesn't matter to me really, as long as women get access to the care they need.

[dv8nation.livejournal.com]

These days I take my jollies where I can find them.