Heath Care Idiots
Aug. 9th, 2004 01:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
patgundI had the misfortune to read this article in the Sunday (August 8th, 2004)San Diego Union-Tribune:
Refusal to prescribe, dispense more common now on moral grounds
Below is the full text of the letter to the editor I just sent:
"In regards to the August 8, 2004 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, about health-care providers refusing to prescribe or fill prescriptions for contraceptives, ("Refusal to prescribe, dispense more common now on moral grounds"). I have this to say:
A doctor, pharmacist, or other health-care provider has the right to disagree about some procedures and medications due to their moral beliefs. However, that doesn't give the doctor the right to refuse the patients request for appropriate medical care, and doesn't give the pharmacist the right to refuse to fill the prescription. Their right to their moral beliefs ends when it interferes with the patients right to medical care, appropriate medical procedures, and appropriate medications.
And at no time does it give them the right to make moral judgments about their patients, or their patients lifestyle or choices. By the same logic they use, a pharmacist could refuse to give an anti-viral medication to a patient with HIV, because they disagree with the patients sexuality. Or a doctor could refuse to perform a sterilization on a patient who has decide they don't want any more children, due to a belief that such procedures "go against natural law", or some simular religious reason.
If the doctor, pharmacist, or other health-care provider cannot provide such care to the patent as the patient requests and/or requires, then it is time for them to stop seeing patients and start finding another line of work. A health-care provider's right to moral grounds ends when it directly interferes with the patient's right to safe, appropriate medical treatment."
Sorry, while I support the health-care person's right to their own religious and moral views, I cannot support an attitude that such a right trumps or supercedes the patient's right to appropriate medical care. If a physician cannot do right by his or her patients, then they need to find a new profession. And if a pharmacist cannot fill a perscription because the medication goes against their beliefs, they need to either quit their job or be terminated, because they should not, now or ever, overrule the physician or patient when it comes to medication.
Refusal to prescribe, dispense more common now on moral grounds
Below is the full text of the letter to the editor I just sent:
"In regards to the August 8, 2004 article in the San Diego Union-Tribune, about health-care providers refusing to prescribe or fill prescriptions for contraceptives, ("Refusal to prescribe, dispense more common now on moral grounds"). I have this to say:
A doctor, pharmacist, or other health-care provider has the right to disagree about some procedures and medications due to their moral beliefs. However, that doesn't give the doctor the right to refuse the patients request for appropriate medical care, and doesn't give the pharmacist the right to refuse to fill the prescription. Their right to their moral beliefs ends when it interferes with the patients right to medical care, appropriate medical procedures, and appropriate medications.
And at no time does it give them the right to make moral judgments about their patients, or their patients lifestyle or choices. By the same logic they use, a pharmacist could refuse to give an anti-viral medication to a patient with HIV, because they disagree with the patients sexuality. Or a doctor could refuse to perform a sterilization on a patient who has decide they don't want any more children, due to a belief that such procedures "go against natural law", or some simular religious reason.
If the doctor, pharmacist, or other health-care provider cannot provide such care to the patent as the patient requests and/or requires, then it is time for them to stop seeing patients and start finding another line of work. A health-care provider's right to moral grounds ends when it directly interferes with the patient's right to safe, appropriate medical treatment."
Sorry, while I support the health-care person's right to their own religious and moral views, I cannot support an attitude that such a right trumps or supercedes the patient's right to appropriate medical care. If a physician cannot do right by his or her patients, then they need to find a new profession. And if a pharmacist cannot fill a perscription because the medication goes against their beliefs, they need to either quit their job or be terminated, because they should not, now or ever, overrule the physician or patient when it comes to medication.
