Ethics Archives - Page 71 of 87 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Abortion

WJ Kazun

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
I disagree with Dr. Morton S. Rapp on a number of the points he made in his letter . . . Dr. Rapp must realize that no one compels any woman or man to become a parent. He must also realize that there is no ethical choice when an innocent life is destroyed. . . Abortion is a violent act and the ultimate in child abuse. Dr. Rapp must agree that child abuse has increased markedly with the increase in abortions and presumably the birth of only wanted children. A study done by Dr. Philip Ney, a well known children’s psychiatrist, proved that the increase in abortions has led to an increase in child abuse and frequently to abuse of wanted children.

Kazun W. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1983 Aug 15;129(4):320.

(Correspondence) Paternalism and the Physician’s Conscience

Julia E Connelly

Journal Extract
I read Dr. Thomasma’s article (1) with skepticism. All models for the doctor-patient relationship are shortsighted as they do not acknowledge systems of relationships beyond that of the physician and the patient. Despite this inherent shortcoming, Thomasma’s model contains two characteristics that distinguish it from other such models. Both the strength of his physician conscience model and its greatest limitations exist in these two characteristics. First, his model requires that physicians assess beliefs, attitudes, and emotions they recognize in response to their patients in an effort to determine how these factors influence the health care they provide. . .

Connelly JE. (Correspondence) Paternalism and the Physician’s Conscience. Ann Intern Med. 1983 Aug 01;99(22):276.

Beyond Medical Paternalism and Patient Autonomy: A Model of Physician Conscience for the Physician-Patient Relationship

David C Thomasma

Abstract
Medical paternalism lies at the heart of traditional medicine. In an effort to counteract the effects of this paternalism, medical ethicists and physicians have proposed a model of patient autonomy for the physician patient relationship. However, neither paternalism or autonomy are adequate characterizations of the physician patient relationship. Paternalism does not respect the rights of adults to self-determination, and autonomy does not respect the principle of beneficence that leads physicians to argue that acting on behalf of others is essential to their craft. A model of physician conscience is proposed that summarizes the best features of both models-paternalism and autonomy.

Thomasma DC. Beyond Medical Paternalism and Patient Autonomy: A Model of Physician Conscience for the Physician-Patient Relationship. Ann. Intern. Med.. 1983;98(2):243-248.

(Editorial) A Nurse’s Conscience

Leah L Curtin

(This lengthy editorial was repeated verbatim in 1993. It includes the following)
Extract
“No nurse should be required to give any drug if (a) she is not competent to give it or (b) she has problems of conscience with regard to its administration. If, for these reasons, a nurse refuses to give a drug, another nurse may do so. The original nurse should receive inservice and/or counseling. If she still has conscientious objections, she should not be coerced. The patient’s right to have/refuse a drug should be protected by meticulous adherence to the principles and procedures of informed consent. However, his right to the drug is not greater than another human being’s (the nurse’s) obligation to practice with integrity. Therefore, if one nurse will not give the drug – the head nurse, coordinator or supervisor should give the drug.” If none of these nurses can, in conscience, administer the drug, then the physician who ordered it must give It himself or find another physician who will do it for him..

Curtin LL. (Editorial) A Nurse’s Conscience. Nurs Manag. 1983 Feb;14(2):7-8

CMA reviews its position

Normand Da Sylva

Extract
Throughout the 1 970s and early 1 980s the issue of abortion was causing such concern that, at its 1981 meeting in Halifax, General Council directed the association “to review the situation with respect to therapeutic abortions in Canada”. As part of this review, the Board of Directors decided to go to the grassroots or the association and to ask individual physicians what their opinions were, not only on the procedural aspects of the current legislation, but also on the ethical and moral aspects of terminating a pregnancy. . . . With the help of an outside consultant, we then drew the names of 2000 physicians from the associations membership file to get a statistically valid sample, proportionally representative of our membership by province and by specialty.

Sylva ND. CMA reviews its position. Can Med Assoc J. 1983;128(1):57.

(Correspondence) Abortion

MT Casey

Extract
The fetus in the uterus of a pregnant woman is not the body of the pregnant woman; it is the body of someone else. I ask Dr. Wilson: If a woman asked him to provide her with the means to end her own life and used the same logic, that it is her own body and she is entitled to do with it what she wants, would he readily agree?

Casey MT. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1982 May 01;126(9):1032.

(Correspondence) Abortion

Wendell W Watters, May Cohen

Extract
The statement on abortion sponsored by the Canadian Physicians for Life and Les Medecins du Quebec pour le Respect de la Vie (Can Med Assoc J 1981; 125: 922) is an insult to all physicians who support the position of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) on abortion, including physicians who are members of the Canadian Abortions Rights Action League (CARAL). We categorically reject the charge that we “promote the destruction of the unborn”. The use of the epithet proabortion in reference to either the CMA or the prochoice position is one of many examples of deliberate misrepresentation of the facts surrounding abortion. “Proabortion” applies to those who promote abortion, who favour it as a population control measure; such people live chiefly in India and China. Antichoicers do not recognize this crucial distinction between proabortion and prochoice . . .Are antichoicers now prepared to guarantee that the emotional and physical needs of all unwanted children will be met; to ensure that each one is able to make a life out of the existence that antichoicers would force on it? Hardly. They are interested only in “protecting” the fetus until it is too late for an abortion. They feel no responsibility for the aftermath of compulsory pregnancy for either the mother or the offspring. Their interest is in quantity, not quality of life. . . .These prolife physicians endorse the “moral rights of hospital boards” to protect the “unborn” by depriving women of their legal right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. History teaches us that whenever the rights of institutions are allowed to ride roughshod over the rights of individuals, humanity as a whole suffers. No publicly funded hospital in this country has any moral right to deprive the women it serves of their legal right to an induced abortion. . . .As long as our laws make it possible for antichoice groups to impose their notions of reproductive morality on other Canadians in this arbitrary fashion, we should all blush in referring to Canada as a democracy.

Watters WW, Cohen M. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1982 Mar 01;126(5):465. Available from:

(Correspondence) Abortion

DR Wilson

Extract
Sex is a pleasurable human activity that should be encouraged, not made taboo by old-fashioned minds that seek to give young people guilty consciences they don’t need. If an unwanted fetus is conceived, there is no point in having an unwanted child in the world, so there should be no obstacle such as an abortion committee to delay the operation.

Wilson DR. (Correspondence) Abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1982 Jan 01;126(1):21.

Statement on abortion (Canadian Physicians for Life, Médecins du Québec pour le respect de la vie)

Walter J Kazun, Rene Jutras

(Published in response to CMA policy that abortion can be justified on medical or non-medical social grounds)

Extract
Be it resolved that we as members of the CMA as well as members of the Canadian Physicians for Life and Les Medecins du Quebec for le Respect de la Vie:

* Reject the pro-abortion stand of the CMA . . .

* Support fully the strong stand of some of the hospital boards . . .

* Deplore the pressure being brought to bear on the democratic as well as moral rights of hospital boards by some of our colleagues . . .

* Assert that any future statements made by CMA should reflect the views of the great number of doctors who respect human life . . .

Kazun WJ, Jutras R. Statement on abortion (Canadian Physicians for Life, Médecins du Québec pour le respect de la vie). Can Med Assoc J. 1981 Oct 15;125(8):922.

Abortion laws in African Commonwealth countries

Rebecca J Cook, Bernard M Dickens

Journal Extract
The problem of abortion is not primarily a problem of law. The law clearly addresses the social practice of abortion, it influences the means of practice and may, at its best, resolve the social consequences of abortion, but the problem of abortion is located in social experience and prevailing social philosophies, rather than in statute books and judicial decisions. Abortion lies at the heart of a number of concerns of particular sensitivity, but it can also have a severe medical and personal impact.

Cook RJ, Dickens BM. Abortion laws in African Commonwealth countries. J Afr Law. 1981 Autumn;25(2):60-79.