Discouraging

[snousle]

Ugh, this is a completely horrible development:


Health providers' 'conscience' rule to take effect:
The last-minute Bush administration declaration lets doctors, clinics, receptionists and others refuse to give care they find morally objectionable.

This is especially bad for people in small towns. In several small towns around California, the only hospitals are run by Seventh-Day Adventists, who have some truly far-out beliefs let's say "a history of curious beliefs" about medical care. I've heard of non-religious doctors getting frozen out, and the nearest non-Adventist care is more than fifty miles away.

The Web is curiously silent about the Adventists' moves, and I can't find much commentary on it beyond allegations of them discouraging abortion. But this eleventh-hour ruling is very disturbing given the domination of rural California health care by a religious group that seems likely to make immediate use of this law.

[Edit: It might be that I should be taking some of the things I hear with a grain of salt, having had limited direct contact with this group.]

Comments

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Oh it's way more than that. What about doctors/nurses/insurers who think it's a waste of resources treating smokers, or fat people, or motorcycle riders?

We're already fighting that battle here, over doctors turning away patients who "ignored" their advice about smoking or losing weight.

[bleepkeeper.livejournal.com]

Yep, that was my first thought too: what happens when someone (inevitably) pushes this outside the abortion/contraception arena? Such an incredibly bad idea.