Faith Drives Some To Refuse Patients Medication or Care

In Chicago, an ambulance driver refused to transport a patient for an abortion. In California, fertility specialists rebuffed a gay woman seeking artificial insemination. In Texas, a pharmacist turned away a rape victim seeking the morning-after pill.

Around the United States, health workers and patients are clashing when providers balk at giving care that they feel violates their beliefs, sparking an intense, complex and often bitter debate over religious freedom vs. patients' rights.

Legal and political battles have followed. Patients are suing and filing complaints after being spurned. Workers are charging religious discrimination after being disciplined or fired. Congress and more than a dozen states are considering laws to compel workers to provide care -- or, conversely, to shield them from punishment.

Proponents of a "right of conscience" for health workers argue that there is nothing more American than protecting citizens from being forced to violate their moral and religious values. Patient advocates and others point to a deep tradition in medicine of healers having an ethical and professional responsibility to put patients first.

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Farticle%2F2006%2F07%2F15%2FAR2006071500846_pf.html

:grr: Does this piss anyone off as bad as it does me? To not put a patients' needs or desires first is repugnant.

What is so damn confusing about that?

the job, at least not to do it alone.

Do you think liberal pharmacists, docs, nurses etc could refuse to treat an authoritarian neo con on the grounds they are either already brain dead, or the world'd be a far far better place with fewer of those mean-spirited, greedy, aggressive, authoritarian types?

And to provide medical treatment to "those mean-spirited, greedy, aggressive, authoritarian types" means the rest of the world will continue to be harmed by them.

"Abortion is wrong- so I won't have one"

and

"Abortion is wrong- so YOU won't have one"

"Birth Control is wrong- so I won't use it"

and

"Birth Control is wrong- so YOU won't use it"

Like the girl who insisted on proseltyzing her fellow students at THEIR collective graduation. I don't understand why they can't stop with "I believe such-and-such".. it's always about "YOU need to believe such-and-such, too"

As an aside, I thought raw story was convinced that we "secular whackjobs" were the real problem, these days. Maybe they're starting to wake up.

Man, I love it when I get my reasoning skills get sharpened so early in the morning...thanks!

I'm incensed when I hear about these people refusing care. They are medical professionals who have taken solemn oaths to place the welfare of their patients above all other concerns. By breaking these oaths, they are not only demonstrating their moral inadequacy, but are placing patients at risk.

There is a simple solution to this problem, however. Pull their licenses to practice and ensure they never hold a similar position anywhere again.

and start pulling the licenses of any religious nut who is too fastidious to do his or her fucking job.

You can help them along if you run into one of these sacntimonious assholes: write a letter to the state licensing board with all the particulars like "professional's" name, place of business, circumstances, service refused, language used, and any witnesses. Send a copy to the consumer protection department of your state's attorney general's office.

Also consider getting friends together and picketing. Embarrass the store owner and/or the chain. Embarrass the doctor.

RAISE HELL. We can't let them get away with this. We've already seen a few refusing to dispense "drugs that interfere with gawd's will." I'm just waiting for some pious twit to tell me I can't have my pain medication. I will do all of the above and more.

with the state medical board each and every time this happens.

I promise you, the board will NOT be happy, and the medical person's license will be in serious jeopardy, if not revoked.

...driving a person to anything other than a hospital? If it's an emergency, her ass should be driven to a hospital or emergency center. If it's an abortion, she should be driving her own fucking self there and free up the ambulance for, you know, emergencies. :shrug:

I think this might be what the article is referring to:

Adamson was hired as an Emergency Medical Technician in 2003 and was responding to a non-emergency call in August 2003 to transport a patient from Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago to an abortion clinic near Cook County Hospital. According to the complaint, once Adamson confirmed that her assignment was to transport the patient for an elective abortion, she told her employer that transporting the patient to an abortion clinic violated her religious beliefs. After a second crew was sent to transport the patient, Adamson’s supervisor immediately fired her following a brief telephone call on August 21, 2003.

http://www.aclj.org/news/read.aspx?ID=456

...of an ambulance's time. What, do they transport people to plastic surgeons for breast augmentations too? An ambulance is not a taxi. If the woman has chosen to get an abortion and her health isn't in any danger, she's prefectly capable of driving herself, having a friend drive her, or calling a cab.

I highly doubt she called them for a ride to an abortion clinic. My impression is that she is a hospital patient and it's possible that previous to her hospitalization she was scheduled for an abortion. Given that in most cases abortions are performed before gestation goes too far, it seems to me the doctors may have okayed a transfer from a hospital to a clinic in order for the procedure to be done.

I honestly don't see anything wrong with this. This is speculative and there is nothing to shed light on the details.

I thought they might have been a catholic sponsored hospital, but they appear to have Jewish backing.

I did notice that they're a Level I trauma center (tend to get the more serious injuries) and a Level III perinatal center (high risk maternity and infant intensive care program). I'm assuming the hospital called the ambulance for her since she was apparently a patient there. If that's the case, its safe to assume that her abortion was not frivolous and private transport was not an option for her. She needed that ambulance.

they should find a new career. It's not as if contraception and abortion are recent developments in health care.

So if you are a religious nutbag, find another career.

Yes, this pisses me off A LOT. Who would Jesus refuse to help?

They should not take jobs that clash with their beliefs.

...Around the United States, health workers and patients are clashing when providers balk at giving care that they feel violates their beliefs, sparking an intense, complex and often bitter debate over religious freedom vs. patients' rights...

A job that requires them to provide care they do not wish to provide is what clashes with their beliefs. They should know better than to take those jobs.

The patients are not causing them problems. Their jobs are causing them problems. They should seek jobs that do not clash with their religious beliefs.

refuse service to on their cabs, pharmacies, etc. so all will know.

I know I would not patronize any business so intolerant even though I would not be requesting anything they find "morally" wrong.

Let these cowards openly post their restricted lists.

they also have no right to force their religious beliefs and practices on other people. This is the biggest problem I have with the religious right

or ambulance driver, are given a job description which enumerates the duties for which they are to be paid and be responsible for.
Should the health-care professional,( be it doctor, nurse, technician, or whatever) be in private practice and responsible only to themselves, perhaps they have the right to such discrimination.
As long as they are being paid for their services by another agency, they do not have the right to interject their own prejudices into the mix.
When they attempt to make moral judgments for others, they have stepped outside the implied contract they have entered into with the employer, and should either resign their position or face immediate termination.
Seems simple enough to me!
:think:

...and subject them to private lawsuits for Muy Big Dinero.

...being religious fanatics!

There's no place in the medical and health profession for bigoted, biased, religious fanatics and they should get the HELL out!

Besides, what are religious zealots doing in a profession based in science??

If they want to proselytize, go to Somalia, or Darfur, or any other third world country where they can practice their trained fields while preaching all they damn well please!

I'm suuure their faith in God will protect them from any harm, right?