Hippocratic Hypocrisy

My God. So Christian Identity doctors can refuse care to African-Americans, Jews and other "mud people"? Jehovah's Witnesses can refuse to administer a blood transfusion? I guess it's OK then for Christian Scientists to refuse to prescribe medication of any kind.

Health Workers' Choice Debated

More than a dozen states are considering new laws to protect health workers who do not want to provide care that conflicts with their personal beliefs, a surge of legislation that reflects the intensifying tension between asserting individual religious values and defending patients' rights.

About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and "morning-after" pills because they believe the drugs cause abortions. But many are far broader measures that would shelter a doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy. That might include in-vitro fertilization, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cells and perhaps even providing treatment to gays and lesbians.

I always thought that providing legally-available care to all patients in need was the ethical heart of healthcare work. If a healthcare worker's religious beliefs lead them to refuse care to anyone, they are violating that ethical committment and are living a lie as long as they remain in their current careers. If they had any real honesty and character, they'd quit and enter another line of work.

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