April-June, 2005
June
The British Medical Association voted to accept legalization of assisted
suicide and euthanasia, on the condition that the law include "robust
safeguards both for patients and doctors who do not wish to be involved in
such procedures." At the same conference, members voted against a motion to
reduce the legal time limit for abortion to 20 weeks. The drafting of
"robust safeguards" to protect physicians will be of considerable importance
if assisted suicide and euthanasia are legalized. A "conscience clause"
included in the
British abortion law has not prevented discrimination against
conscientious objectors. (See
Access to Appointments: The Effect of Discrimination on Careers;
Question of Conscience)
Responding to a resolution passed by the American Medical Association
demanding that pharmacists fill prescriptions despite their conscientious
convictions, the Christian Medical Association issued a
news release in which Executive Director Gene Rudd, MD, an
obstetrician-gynecologist, warned against "a wholesale movement to deny
healthcare professionals the right to follow their own consciences,
especially in matters regarding reproduction."
Bill C-407, which would legalize assisted suicide in Canada, includes no
protection for health care professionals who do not wish to facilitate the
procedure. The private member's bill was introduced by Bloc Québécois MP
Francine Lalonde. When abortion was legalized in Canada in 1969 the
government refused to entertain protection of conscience measures, as a
result of which health care workers who object to the procedure have
frequently faced coercion and discrimination (See
Protection of Conscience: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow )
A junior members' forum of the British Medical Association has voted to
lower the upper time limit for abortion, and four motions from physicians'
groups to the same effect will be debated at the BMA's annual conference.
The suggestion that the upper limit should be lowered contrasts with that of
others, who have suggested that treatment should be withheld from babies
born at less than 24 weeks gestation ( See
Treatment may be denied
premature babies).Also to be considered is a motion that the BMA should
support physician-assisted suicide.[The Times of London and The Daily Mail,
19 June, 2005]
An attempt by the Attorney General of California to overturn federal
protection of conscience legislation is being opposed by the Christian Legal
Society and Alliance Defense Fund. The California Attorney General filed
suit against the US Government after the Hyde-Weldon amendment was passed
because denies federal funding to states that force health care providers to
participate in abortion, in violation of their conscientious convictions.
The CLS and ADF are acting for the Christian Medical Association; the
American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists; and the
Fellowship of Christian Physicians Assistants. (WordNetDaily)
Assembly Bill 207 passed the Wisconsin State Assembly by a vote
of 60 to 33. It must pass the Senate before being sent to the
governor. However, Governor Jim Doyle is a vociferous opponent of
freedom of conscience. He has vetoed previous legislation and has
vowed to veto AB207.
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which
specializes in constitutional law, today filed a federal lawsuit against
Eastern Illinois University after a nurse who was working at the
University's Health Services Department was not promoted because of her
pro-life beliefs and her objection to dispensing the morning-after pill. [
Pharmacy owner Luke Vander Bleek has sued Illinois Governor Rod
Blagojevich because of his 'emergency' rule ordering all pharmacies to
dispense contraceptives and potentially abortifacient drugs. Lawsuits have
been launched against the governor by other conscientious objectors. (See
AUL Files Suit Against Illinois Governor)
Baroness Warnock supports suggestions being reviewed by the Nuffield Council
on Bioethics to the effect that babies born at less than 24 weeks gestation
should be denied treatment. [The Telegraph, 6 June, 2005]Such a policy would
likely create conflicts of conscience among some health care workers.
In order to circumvent side effects associated with the birth control
pill, scientists at Cambridge University are attempting to find a drug that
will block the STAT3 molecule. Blocking the molecule would prevent
implantation of the embryo [BBC, 5 June, 2005]. A birth control pill with
this mechanism of action would be considered by many to be morally
equivalent to an abortifacient, resulting in further tensions around the
issue of freedom of conscience in health care.
May
The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which specializes in
constitutional law, today filed an amended complaint in state court in
Illinois adding four additional pharmacists to its lawsuit challenging
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich's emergency amendment to the state code
requiring pharmacists to dispense medication even if filling the
prescriptions violate their conscience and religious beliefs. (ACLJ
Adds Pharmacists to Lawsuit Against Illinois Governor
A woman claims that a Milwaukee pharmacist berated her as a "baby-killer"
when she tried to obtain the morning-after pill, and, as a result of her
trauma, she failed to seek another pharmacist and ended up having an
abortion. The incident is alleged to have occurred at a Walgreen's Pharmacy.
The pharmacist is not longer employed at that location. The state Department
of Regulation and Licensing is looking into the claim.
Legislators in Missouri are considering
Senate Bill 458, which would force pharmacists to dispense drugs in
spite of their moral convictions.
April
House Bill 3773, proposed in the Philippines, would punish conscientious
objection by up to six months imprisonment. The bill will also force the
Catholic Church to provide sterilization for its employees, a violation of
Catholic teaching. {See
Philippines Government launches attack on freedom of conscience)
North Carolina House Bill 1407, which would extend freedom of conscience
protection to pharmacists, is being opposed by Planned Parenthood.
The Belgian Federal Control and Evaluation Commission for Euthanasia reports
that there were about 20 cases of euthanasia per month in the first fifteen
months after legalization of the procedure, and now runs about 30 per month.
The Netherlands has seen an increase from 1815 cases in 2003 to 1886 in
2004. The more frequent the procedure, the greater the likelihood of
conflicts of conscience among health care workers.
A psychologist who was dismissed from the National Provider Advisory Council
for Magellan Health Services because he offered reparative therapy to
persons with homosexual inclinations has been reinstated.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton
is a professor of psychology at Grove City College in Maryland. Magellan is
a large American mental health management company.
CMA director Dr. David Stevens has expressed his association's objections to
the assisted suicide bill being proposed in California. Opposition in the
medical profession is one of the reasons why protection of conscience
legislation is of great practical importance. [See
California assisted suicide bill includes protection of conscience provision]
The Christian Legal Society's Center for Law & Religious Freedom, the
Alliance Defense Fund, Americans United for Life, and John Mauck and Jason
Craddock of Mauck and Baker will present arguments tomorrow to secure an
injunction against a decree of the governor of Illinois that suppresses
freedom of conscience for pharmacists. The lawyers are representing
pharmacist David Scimio. [See
Illinois
Governor attacks freedom of conscience ;
Another Illinois
pharmacist sues governor ;Illinois
pharmacists sue for freedom of conscience ]
250 Belgian pharmacies are selling euthanasia kits to physicians for 60
Euros. Doctors must pick them up in person 24 hours after placing an order.
The report does not indicate whether or pressure is being applied to force
objecting pharmacies to supply the kits.
The Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board is demanding that pharmacist Neil
Noesen pay $20,000.00 of the costs of proceedings launched against him for
refusing, for reasons of conscience, to fill a prescription for
contraceptives. He has been ordered to notify employers in advance about
what drugs he will refuse to dispense, and what he will do to ensure
patients get the drugs he refuses to dispense himself. He must also attend
six hours of "continuing education in pharmacy practice."
David Scimio, a Christian pharmacist at Albertsons, a grocery store in
Chicago, is taking the governor of Illinois to court for violating the
state's
Health Care Right of Conscience Act. He had an arrangement with his
employer to refer patients to a nearby pharmacy for the morning-after pill,
but, following the governor's 'emergency' rule, was ordered to dispense the
drug. Mr. Scimio is represented by the Center for Law & Religious Freedom,
the Alliance Defense Fund, Americans United for Life, and John Mauck and
Jason Craddock from Mauck and Baker. [See
Illinois
pharmacists sue for freedom of conscience ]
Senate Bill 809, the Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act, or ALPhA, and a
companion bill introduced in the US House of Representatives, effectively
assert that access to legal contraception is a fundamental right that trumps
religious belief. SB 809 was introduced by New Jersey Senator Frank R.
Lautenberg, who wishes to compel pharmacies to dispense or facilitate access
to all legal drugs and devices, regardless of the moral convictions of
pharmacists and pharmacy owners. [News
Item]
An assisted suicide bill that will go to the state assembly in California
includes a protection of conscience provision. The California Compassionate
Choice Act would protect health care providers and institutions from
prosecution, civil actions or professional discipline for refusing to
participate in assisted suicide [See
Article 3, Immunities and Liabilities]
According to a ruling by a New York Supreme Court judge, Jewish law
considers assisted nutrition and hydration (tube feeding) as basic care, not
medical treatment. The case concerned an 86 year old Orthodox Jewish Woman
[The Jewish Week, 14 April]. The ruling contrasts sharply with the more
usual assertion that nutrition and hydration constititute treatment that can
be refused or withdrawn.
Two registered pharmacists from Edwardsville, Illinois, are suing Illinois
Governor Blagojevich because of his executive order that pharmacists must
dispense drugs or devices even if doing so violates their religious or moral
convictions. The American Center for Law and Justice filed a lawsuit seeking
an injunction against the 'emergency' rule, which the governor issued on 1
April, and which apparently violates the state's own
Health Care Right of Conscience Act. [News
Item]
AB 644 is not framed as a freedom of conscience measure, but as a law to
compel professionals to dispense legally prescribed drugs and devices
despite conscientious objections. However, the text of the bill permits a
pharmacist who has previously given his employer written notice of his
objections to decline to fill a prescription. The employer must accommodate
the pharmacist if doing so will not cause the employer undue hardship (the
usual standard for accommodation of religious freedom), and it then becomes
the duty of the employer to see that the patient can obtain the drug or
device. A weakness in this arrangement is that an objecting employer or an
objecting pharmacist who is operating his own pharmacy is denied the same
freedom, since (if he does not carry the product) he is obliged to obtain
and dispense the product, transfer the prescription or refer the patient to
a pharmacy known to have it. Protective legislation will become increasingly
important if California legalizes assisted suicide (see
California Compassionate Choice Act), for this bill, as currently
framed, would then make facilitation of assisted suicide a condition for
running a pharmacy business in California.
Governor Janet Napolitano has vetoed House Bill 2541, which would have
ensured freedom of conscience for pharmacists, and health care institutions
and health care workers with respect to abortion and 'emergency
contraception.'
Identical bills have been proposed in the Tennessee House (HB1383)
and Senate (SB76)
to prevent pharmacists from being forced to act against their conscientious
convictions.
15 of 117 neonatal deaths and 2 of 77 later infant deaths in Belgium from
August, 1999 to July, 2000 were the result of lethal injections administered
by physicians. The figure appears in a study reported in The Lancet. 69 of
120 physicians (58%) who completed the attitudinal part of the survey
favoured legalization of infant euthanasia in some circumstances, causing
the researchers to conclude, "Most physicians favour legalisation of the use
of lethal drugs in some cases." [Medical end-of-life decisions in neonates
and infants in Flanders Lancet 2005; 365: 1315-20] It would be more
accurate to say that the survey indicates that the medical profession in
Belgium is split on the issue. Such a split reflects the importance of
protection of conscience legislation.
Dr Nigel Cox, who was given 12 months probation for attempting to murder an
elderly patient by injecting her with potassium chloride, claims that "most"
doctors will admit to having "bumped off" two or three patients upon
request. His assertion was made in an interview with The Independent, and
reflects continued pressure for legalization of euthanasia in the United
Kingdom. Conscientious objectors to euthanasia among health care workers
would be significantly affected by such a development.
81 year old Ora Mae Magouirk, who was being dehydrated and starved at a
hospice, was airlifted to hospital after court-appointed doctors decided
that her heart condition was treatable. She was awake and not in a
persistent vegetative state, nor was she terminally ill. Her physician and
grandchildren had ordered the cessation of nourishment. Like the Schiavo
case, the incident demonstrates the potential for conflicts of conscience
among health care workers.
Scotland on Sunday reported that hospitals in Scotland perform abortions as
late as the 34th week of pregnancy. Such late term abortions are more likely
to generate conflicts of conscience among health care workers. [See
Nurses At Foothills Hospital Rebel Over The Horrifying Results Of Late-Term
'Genetic Terminations' ]
One of two bills that would ensure freedom of conscience for pharmacists,
and health care institutions and health care workers with respect to
abortion and 'emergency contraception' has passed the Arizona legislature.
The bill does not define 'emergency contraception'. (HB
2541) A similar bill in the senate includes contraception and
sterilization among the procedures covered (SB
1485)
The Political Secretary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children
(SPUC) denounced passage of the government's Mental Capacity Bill and warned
that it would have "profound repercussions" for those who have conscientious
objections to killing patients by starvation and dehydrating patients.
Anthony Ozimic said that "doctors will be forced to choose between killing
some of their patients and leaving the profession."
Mr. Ozimic added, "Doctors who refuse on clinical or other ethical
grounds to implement an advance refusal of treatment face litigation and
possibly criminal conviction. Even in situations where there is no
obligation to provide therapeutic measures (for example, when they are
ineffective) there remains a duty of care towards the patient. It would be
unreasonable, and immoral, to force healthcare professionals to relinquish
this responsibility because of their conscientious objection to implementing
clinically inappropriate or unethical advance refusals."
Citing the importance of informed consent, Governor Bill Owens vetoed a bill
that would have forced hospitals to tell rape complainants about the
morning-after pill without disclosing its potentially abortifacient effects.
The governor noted that, without such information, a woman might be led to
violate her own moral convictions about the sanctity of life.