Bush Broadens Rule on Refusal of Health Services for Moral Reasons

If a pharmacist receives a prescription for a "morning after" pill, and they believe it its use is morally wrong, in your opinion, what are their proper and valid professional actions?

1. Tell patient they won't fill the prescription for personal moral reasons.
   
2. Counsel patient in an effort to dissuade them from obtaining and using medication.
3. Give the patient no advice of any type to assist them.
4. Refuse by silence, or explicitly to provide information about other sources (such as pharmacies that will fill the prescription.)
5. Destroy the prescription so the patient can't fill it elsewhere.  (You would confiscate a gun if someone was going to use it to kill, wouldn't you?)

The list of possibile actions is long.  And, a similar list of actions can be created for every health professional involved.  President George W Bush has recently greatly broadened the health care providers "right of refusal."

From a WebMD article...

An 11th-hour ruling from the Bush administration gives health care workers, hospitals, and insurers more leeway to refuse health services for moral or religious reasons.

The rule, issued today, becomes effective in 30 days. Its main provisions widen the number of health workers and institutions that may refuse, based on "sincere religious belief or moral conviction," to provide care or referrals to patients.

"This rule protects the right of medical providers to care for their patients in accord with their conscience," says Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt in a statement.

Read the rest of the article here...

http://www.webmd.com/news/20081219/new-conscience-rule-controversy

View the Prairie Pooch Hole blog here...