Medicine, a high-energy consumer and generator of much waste—some of it toxic—must scale back the health care enterprise in the interest of preserving a livable environment.
With good planning and good will, medical professionals’ right of conscience and patients’ rights to controversial services can be both protected and accommodated.
Limiting the right of patients to make their own medical decisions can be justified only when a patient lacks the competence to do so or pose a threat to others.