Because they had a willing physician back up, that probably would save the bigoted physician.

Seems like it would be worth for that state's board of Medicine to hear from some concerned residents, though.

If a doctor has such hard-edged beliefs that he would flatly deny care to a newborn infant, what are the odds that people he somewhat disapproves of get substandard care?

Joe Shmoe's EKG has a few anomalies, but he's such a sinner, I don't think God wants me to do a followup.

It should not be legal to discriminate - BUT - for an ongoing doctor-patient relationship we are extremely up front about the composition of our family, and a doctor's negative emotional reaction to our family is not something I will tolerate as part of our ongoing medical care.

I have fired doctors for a variety of reasons, including that they are not willing to interact with me in a manner I deem important they are not willing to battle insurance on our behalf, they are not willing to discuss medical research (I do a lot, and it threatens some doctors), they are not willing to discuss potential diagnoses until they are certain).

That said, we have had two evangelical Christian primary care doctors. The first conversation we had when we walked in the door was about our family, and if we had sensed any hesitancy about treating our LGBT family we would have been out the door immediately.

The first was necessary because the only physicians willing to work with midwives for prenatal/birthing care came from the evangelical Christian community. We went through the pre-birth classes with an odd mix of evangelical Christians and hippy-types - because both communities were seeking less medical intervention during birth. The second was because our insurance company dumped our doctor, and we fired both the two we found on our own after that doctor, so we asked our insurance carrier to tell us who their clients were happy with. We've been there ~ 15 years, and have never experienced any hesitation from him about treating our family.

my jaw drops at the bigotry, stupidity, and hypocrisy of the religious right.

she prayed on it?! well if that's what your god told you to do you can have it. makes me happy i'm an atheist and more christ-like than that doctor could ever hope to be.

to deny care to an infant.

The insurance company negotiates the contracts with the doctors and hospitals. They may have a policy against this kind of thing.

You treat the injuries and then let the legal system and/or society pass their respective judgments.

This is completely aside from the obvious question of wtf did the baby do to deserve being denied care?


"For the lord said, thou shalt be a fount of hate, and thou shalt spew it recklessly"

I am a mental health nurse, one of the things I still struggle with is dealing with child molesters.
I work in a psych facility - From time to time - a child molester is admitted. I still administer the same care I give all my other patients as far as carrying out doctors orders and administering medications, ordering labs, exams, etc.

Now will they get the same patient/nurse relationship? No

However, I will not neglect them or give them substandard care.

ETA: For clarification
My point is : As a health care professional, your job is to treat the illness, no matter what you believe about the person. (I don't want anyone to think I am trying to compare homosexuality to child molestation)

In this situation. The baby was the patient. So I am not sure why the doctor had a problem treating the baby.

that has been working on a mental health floor at a hospital. It is a very hard job, and I am truly amazed at how well she is doing. It is something I could never do.

You are right that I can't understand the mentality of this doctor. It seems to violate everything that someone in medicine is supposed to do.

As a side note my daughter's closest coworker is one of her safety techs who keeps her safe. He also happens to be gay, and I thank God that he is there.

Silly me- Asshole doctor praying to a mean-spirit in the sky

if I were them. I hope they like their new physician. Bigotry based on religion is just plain bigotry. If that doctor's judgment is that poor, I'd want nothing to do with him or her.

in this case is that the parents have information that I would absolutely want to know about my doctor if I were going to entrust my child's life to that person. That's assuming there are good alternatives to this doctor available to them, of course.

The first time, I was so pissed I left despite the pain and didn't go back to a doctor until I was unable to move. Turns out, I was about to slip a disc, but the first doctor asked me, in his FIRST question, if I had a recent HIV test or had AIDS. I went in for BACK PAIN!

The heterosexist nature and privilege many enjoy let them overlook, ignore, and even deny, this type of behavior is happening...daily...to LGBT people all over the country.

be treated so abysmally.

One good thing came out of it, one of my brothers became a medical doctor, and he made sure the rights of the LGBT were addressed in seminars about patient rights and treatment. He was so outspoken many (straight people) thought he was gay, but the gays knew he was an ally, and then when they heard the last name, knew he was my little brother (I had worked at the school and was a VERY outspoken advocate).

'Care' part of medical care.

You clearly have been a good influence!

Hugs for you both!

But that doesn't mean that doctor won't lose her license. Sue her ass.

Were the other doctors there ok with this?!

Refusing to treat a baby because of its parents' "sin"?

Ghastly!

What other things can parents do or be that could deny their children medical care?

better it is out there than hidden in my opinion.

Better to be refused outright than to have things done out of malice as a patient.

Any racist or bigoted doctor, baker, teacher,...etc. who gets a license from a State, or community, or the Federal government should be legally required to serve all the people who come to them.

Anyone who wants to put their religious beliefs ahead of serving all the public should be denied the right to have a license to work.

If their religion comes first, let them go do work within the confines of their church.

under the guise of "religious freedom".

That damn doctor is an evil bastard refusing to treat a baby! OMG!!!!!

Instead they have a supportive doctor.

No, discrimination should not be allowed. But I think they might really be better off with someone who actually likes them.

My guess, they got a better Doctor in the deal.

So to a conservative that kids..SEVEN days and 9 months old...punishing the very origin of a loving thought. You know, like Jesus would. Jesus is getting a bad rap. REAL bad.

quality of care that he provides his patients. I would have no problems with submitting a complaint with the medical licensing board and publicizing the Doctor's name. People should be aware that there is valid concern about the level of patient care he provides since he has no problem turning his back on the Hippocratic oath.

I am sure that many straight people will chose another doctor when they hear what happened.

If that doctor was the only one available he would let that baby die for his twisted religious beliefs.

to save the fetus. Now that it's out of the womb, fuck it!

Isn't it?

Luckily there was a different doctor available, this time. What would have happened had this been in a smaller community with more limited medical staffing, I wonder?