July-September, 2007
September
The British Medical Association is reported to be critical of the
country's regulatory authority, the General Medical Council, because it
claims that draft GMC guidelines acknowledging the need to respect freedom
of conscience and religion among physicians are ambiguous and could lead to
refusal of some services, such as IVF treatments for same-sex couples. [The
Independent]
A report in the Irish Times claims that between 54% and 70% of Irish women
favour legalization of abortion in various circumstances. 42% were reported
to know someone who had had an abortion. [Irish
Times] Legalization of the procedure would likely cause conflicts of
conscience among many in the medical profession, especially obstetricians
and gynecologists.
A pharmacist at Lloyds Pharmacy in Slaithwaite, England, who refused to
dispense the morning after pill for reasons of conscience was apparently
confronted by a demanding customer and what was described as a "heated
discussion" ensued. The pharmacist told an enquiring reporter that he had
directed the woman "to the nearest chemist who would give it," thus
conforming to a regulation that requires objectors to facilitate the supply
of products by referring patients. It does not appear that the pharmacist
believed that referral compromised his personal integrity. [
Huddersfield
Daily Examiner]
An animal rights group will appeal lower court decisions to the Austrian
Supreme Court, seeking a ruling that a chimpanzee is a person. The case
involves one of two chimpanzees living in a now bankrupt animal shelter. The
activists claim that they do not want the animals shipped out of Austria
because of concern that they will not be adequately protected by laws in
other countries, and they are unwilling to establish a fund from which to
pay for the upkeep of the animals. A district court rejected a petition by a
woman to assume legal guardianship of one of the chimps because the animal
was not mentally impaired or in danger. The provincial court has now
rejected the suit on the grounds that the activists have no standing, since
only a guardian can appeal. The case is of interest because a declaration
that a chimpanzee is a person would require a definition of 'person' that is
not unique to human beings, setting legal criteria for the definition that
could then be applied selectively to human beings. Ethicist Peter Singer of
Princeton University takes this approach, and concludes that, based upon his
criteria for 'personhood', infanticide is acceptable. [Associated
Press]
Responding to a state law requiring hospitals to provide the morning after
pill to complainants of rape, the Catholic bishops of Connecticut have
issued a
statement approving the use of the drug after a negative pregnancy test,
though continuing to maintain that the law is unsatisfactory. The statement
asserts that the Catholic Church has not definitively ruled on the use of
the morning after pill and that its mechanism of action is in "serious
doubt," so a negative ovulation test will not be required. The statement
closed with the note that the matter would have to be re-opened if the
morning-after pill were shown to sometimes lead to "early chemical
abortion."
Following an intensive publicity campaign by a Slovakian anti-abortion
group, which included graphic depictions of the abortion of an eleven-week
old foetus, the Slovakian Health Ministry has withdrawn a regulation that
forced all hospitals to provide abortion. [Lifesite News]
Britain's Mental Capacity Act, which comes into force this year,
requires health care workers to withhold food and fluids in order to cause
the death of a patient who is not dying, if that is requested by the patient
or legal proxy. Those who fail to comply with the requests will not be
supported by the British Medical Association, and may be charged for assault
and imprisoned. Nonetheless, the Islamic Medical Association has stated,
"All Muslim doctors, nurses and patients, expressing our Islamic
beliefs, should oppose this inhumane Act." Opposition has also come from the
Catholic Church. [The
Daily Mail]
The Saskatoon Regional Health Authority will formally take control of St.
Elizabeth's Hospital in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on 31 October. Health
Minister Len Taylor decided that the local government health authority would
take over the hospital because of a controversy that erupted when the
hospital stopped providing tubal ligations, which are contrary to Catholic
moral teaching. The hospital will be called the Humboldt District Hospital.
[Star
Phoenix] [See
Former Catholic hospital being re-named]
Pope Benedict XVI referred hopefully to Slovakia's assurance that it
will finalize an accord with the Holy See that will preserve freedom of
conscience in the country by officially recognizing a right of conscientious
objection. The remarks were made as he accepted the credentials of the new
Slovakian ambassador. The proposed agreement generated enough controversy in
the country to lead to an election last year, and it has been criticized by
European Union experts. [EU
Business]
Activists bent on destroying freedom of conscience for Washington
pharmacists have filed at least ten new complaints against Ralph's Thriftway
Pharmacy in Olympia, Washington. The family owning the store had refused to
stock the morning-after pill, and nine women filed complaints about the
practice in July. However, the complaints were not upheld because the
pharmacy conformed to the custom, then in force, of referring clients to
other pharmacies. New rules took effect in July requiring "timely"
dispensing of drugs, as a result of which the new complaints have been
lodged. The company has filed a lawsuit against the regulations, and
activists have organized a boycott of its stores. [The
Olympian]
The Saskatchewan Catholic Health Corporation has agreed to pay a woman
$7,875.00 in order to settle a complaint lodged with the Saskatchewan Human
Rights Commission. She was denied a tubal ligation at St. Elizabeth's
Catholic Hospital in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, and filed a complaint with the
Commission alleging that she was deprived of a public service as a result of
discrimination on the basis of gender and religion. The incident followed a
decision by the hospital board to cease providing tubal ligations in order
to conform to Catholic teaching. Critics asserted that Catholic hospitals
have no right to freedom of religion in the provision of healthcare because
they are part of the public health care system. As a result of the
controversy, the hospital board decided to end the hospital's affiliation
with the Catholic Church and transfer control of the facility to the public
health care authority. [CBC
News]
August
Sweden has cut off aid to Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Peru for
reasons related to "peace, security, democracy, and human rights", according
to the Swedish ambassador to El Salvador. Anonymous sources are reported to
have explained this as an attempt to force the countries to legalize
abortion. Nicaragua will lose about 21 million dollars in aid. Legalization
of abortion, without providing substantial protection of conscience
legislation, would likely have a significant impact on objecting health care
workers.
Deirdre McQuade, planning director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops' Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, is reported by Fox News to be
concerned about freedom of conscience for pharmacy employees who object to
dispensing the morning after pill. "Pregnancy is not a disease," McQuade
said. "There is no absolute duty to dispense a non-therapeutic drug, but
there is a basic civil right of conscience." [Fox
News]
As a result of a ruling by the Constitutional Court of South Africa, public
hearings are being held into the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy
Amendment Act. Doctors for Life International opposes the bill not only
because the group is opposed to abortion, but because the bill does not
include protection of conscience measures to ensure that nurses unwilling to
participate in abortion do not lose their jobs. [LifeNews]
A ruling byIllinois District Court Judge Jeanne Scott [Vandersand
vs. Wal-Mart Stores Inc.] means that pharmacist Ethan Vandersand can
proceed with his case against Wal-Mart for placing him on unpaid leave
because he refused, for reasons of conscience, to dispense the morning after
pill. The judge ruled that individual pharmacists are protected by the
state's
Health Care Right of Conscience Act, and that an executive order from
the Governor binds pharmacy owners, but not individual pharmacists. [ACLJ
news release]
Another British woman has publicly complained about being denied the
morning-after pill by an objecting pharmacist. The incident occurred at a
Lloyds' pharmacy in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. A spokesman for the
regulatory authority stated that objectors are required to refer customers
to colleagues to help them obtain the drug. Referral is unacceptable to a
number of objectors. A parliamentary committee studying the issue of
assisted suicide and euthanasia has asserted that it is contrary to human
rights law to compel physicians to refer for procedures to which they object
for reasons of conscience. For some reason, the authority fails to recognize
that this applies to pharmacists as well.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a statement
answering questions from the bishops of the United States. The statement,
Responses to Certain Questions of the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops Concerning Artificial Nutrition and Hydration, affirms that food
and fluids must be provided to patients as long as they are able to
assimilate them. Courts in many jurisdictions have ruled that assisted
nutrition and hydration are forms of medical treatment that can be rejected
by or on behalf of patients. This has led to the practice of stopping food
and fluids in order to bring about the death of patients who are not
otherwise dying. In Britain, the Mental Capacity Act has given statutory
effect to this procedure. The practice can create conflicts of conscience
for health care workers opposed to euthanasia.
July
Many Portuguese doctors are reported to be unwilling to provide abortions
under the terms of a new law, and a number of public hospitals are unable to
offer the service for that reason. The opening of Portugal's first private
abortion clinic illustrates a simple method of accommodating both demands
for the procedure and freedom of conscience for health care workers
unwilling to provide or facilitate it. [Los Angeles Times 31 July]
Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, a California transplant surgeon who is a respondent in
a wrongful death suit (See
Wrongful death
claim made in organ transplant case), has been criminally charged. Dr.
Roozrokh was employed by Kaiser Permanente's kidney transplant program. as
working at the time on behalf of a group that procures and distributes
organs. The prosecution alleges that the drugs he prescribed were intended
"to accelerate Mr. Navarro's death in order to recover his organs." [ABC
News] The case illustrates the potential for conflicts of conscience
among health care workers involved in removing organs for transplant.
Ms Kate Gilmore, deputy secretary-general of Amnesty International, has
stated that the organization will officially begin pro-abortion activism on
11 August in Mexico City. Conscientious objectors to abortion are
particularly threatened by attempts by Amnesty and others to make abortion
is a human right, since that would effectively preclude conscientious
objection to the procedure by health care professionals. [EWTN 30 July]
Pharmacists Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen and a company, Stormans Inc.,
have begun a civil action against Washington state because a new law
requires them to sell the morning-after pill, contrary to their religious
and moral beliefs. [AP on ABC Money, 26 July] [ADF
news release]
65%of American respondents to a poll conducted by Baraga Interactive
supported freedom of conscience for pharmacists who refuse to dispense
products for moral reasons. [CWNews on LifeSite,19 July]
More than $21 million has been awarded by an American jury to a couple
because a doctor failed to diagnose a genetic disorder in their firstborn
child. They asserted that they would have had an abortion had they known
that their second child also suffered from the disorder. In essence, a
wrongful birth case claims that a child would be better off dead, or having
never been born [Fox
News]. Cases of this type result in considerable pressure on physicians
to recommend pre-natal testing for the purpose of identifying birth defects
in order to facilitate abortion.
At least nine regional hospitals in Portugal will not provide abortions
because health care professionals at the facilities object to the procedure
for reasons of conscience. [CNN, 15 July] Legal access to abortion up to the
tenth week of pregnancy was recently expanded in the country, and as many as
80% of Portuguese physicians are reported to be unwilling to be involved
with it. A spokesman for the Portuguese Catholic bishops' conference, said:
"Catholic nurses and doctors have been encouraged to have recourse to their
right to objection of conscience and many have done so. This comes as a
surprise to the government. Many hospitals will not be able to perform
abortions because so many doctors are having recourse to their right to
objection of conscience." [Fides/CWN on EWTN, 18 July]
In commenting upon the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, the director of
Midland Fertility Services has suggested that patients using in vitro
fertilization be allowed to choose the sex of their babies. She argues that
this would reduce the number of sex-selective abortions being performed in
Britain. Sex selection, either through IVF or abortion, is a controversial
issue even among those who otherwise have not objection to those procedures.
icBirmingham, 12 July]
The Irish Crisis Pregnancy Agency is reported to be unwilling to continue
funding Catholic pregnancy counselling charities unless they agree to accept
pamphlets providing their clients with information about abortion clinics
outside Ireland. [Irish Independent, 12 July]
The Buenos Aires Catholic Doctors Consortium (CDC) has stated that its
members will not perform abortions and asserted their right to conscientious
objection to the procedure, warning politicians, legislators and other
authorities that they cannot expect physicians to provide the procedure. [LifeSite
News]
Rosa Navarro has begun civil action against the Sierra Vista Regional
Medical and Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, alleging that Dr. Roozrokh was responsible
for the administration of lethal doses of morphine to her disabled son,
Ruben Navarro. It is alleged that this was done to cause his death so that
his organs could be transplanted. The statement of claim asserts that the
morphine was administered in an operating room, and appears to suggest the
involvement of more than one medical professional. The allegation
illustrates the potential for conflicts of conscience arising among team
members involved in organ transplants when it is not clear that the patient
has died, or when it appears that steps are being taken to accelerate or
cause death. [LifeSite
News]
MEPs from the United Kingdom and Italy have asked for the legalization of
euthanasia in Europe. Liberal Democrat MEP Chris Davies stated that it was a
matter of human rights rather than health policy. Legalization of euthanasia
would impact objectors among health care workers, especially if euthanasia
were to be made an enforceable legal right. [Channel 4, 5 July]
Citing strong African cultural traditions opposed to abortion, Archbishop
Robert Sarah of Guinea has objected to the Maputo Protocol on the Rights of
Women in Africa, a document that has formal support of a number of African
states and that supports legalization of abortion. [Zenit, 5 July]