Margaret Little, PhD and Anne Drapkin Lyerly, MA, MD
Society is best served by an approach to conscience that combines a progressive understanding of patients’ needs, a nuanced determination of when those needs translate into claims, and a limited role for conscientious refusal.
Physicians must recognize the role of their own and patients’ religious and personal values in understanding and resolving dilemmas in clinical ethics.
AMA J Ethics. 2015;17(5):409-415. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2015.17.5.spec1-1505.
Rebecca J. Cook, JD, JSD and Bernard M. Dickens, LLB, LLM, PhD, LLD
Two legal experts argue that in order for physicians to exercise their right to conscientious objection, they should explain why they are refusing to treat a patient and then refer the patient to another professional for medical treatment.
A growing number of states is enacting laws to protect the right of health care workers to conscientiously object to perform certain services that are morally opposed to.