Conscientious objection in healthcare: For and against

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OPINION

Conscientious objection in healthcare: For and against

13 December 2017

Guest writer

Wednesday 13 December 2017, 12:00 AM

Although doctors must do their best, they are not required to provide treatment which they think is harmful

Academics Angela Ballantyne and Janine Penfield Winters provide opposing opinions on the issue of conscientious objection in healthcare

FOR, If society believes some services are so essential that doctors’ judgement is not needed, then these services should be licensed to be provided “over , Janine Penfield Winters

References

Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, s174 and the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act 1977, s46. General laws that protect rights to religious expression (eg, the Bill of Right Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993) will also apply in many employment situations and may provide for the legal right to conscientiously object to the provision of other (non-reproductive) services.

Hippocrates

E. Pellegrino, lecture at The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH. 2004.

Garland A, Connors AF, Physicians' influence over decisions to forego life support. J Palliat Med 2007,10(6):1298-305.

Pellegrino E, The Physician’s Conscience, Conscience Clauses, and Religious Belief: A Catholic Perspective. Fordham Urban Law Journal 2002, 30:221–44; Wicclair MR. Conscientious Objection in Medicine. Bioethics 2002,14: 205-227

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