Journals Archives - Page 87 of 108 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral

John B Shea

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
The CMA has the audacity to “place responsibility” on the physician who acts in accordance with his intelligence and informed conscientious judgement in the matter. It is not true to state that a physician abandons a patient if he informs her that his moral principles preclude his becoming involved in referring her for an abortion. No patient has the right to anything other than what a physician can in his conscience do. To ask for more is to ask for his cooperation in performing an act that he deems an act of killing an innocent human being. The CMA, in supporting this type of request, is bringing pressure to bear on the physician to cooperate. By including it in the code of ethics the CMA has also put the physician who does not publicly object in the position of appearing to agree with the CMA. His intellectual and moral integrity are challenged by this action. . . .If the government were to make abortion on demand legal, I have no doubt the CMA would make another change in the code that would “place responsibility” on the physician to cooperate in this also. I find it intolerable that the CMA is telling me I may not follow my conscience in this most serious matter.

Shea JB. (Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral. Can Med Assoc J. 1978 Apr 22;118(8):890.

(Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral

RG Wilson(CMA Secretary General)

Extract
.. . . the wording in the pertinent paragraph of the code of ethics represents an amendment to the recommendation of the committee on ethics, moved from the floor of General Council and subsequently passed. In discussing this paragraph the mover of the motion stated that the medical profession must stand by its ethics and, in so doing, has a responsibility to patients, who should not be abandoned in any regard. He went on to state that the medical profession is based on compassion and help and that every physician has a responsibility to a patient, even when he does not agree with a particular form of therapy. . . In suggesting changes in the code of ethics the CMA’s committee on ethics attempted to underline the right of the patient to have other opinions, and the responsibility of the physician to indicate to the patient that she has that right. General Council, in its wisdom, strengthened the recommendation and indicated that, in its view, the physician has a broader responsibility not to abandon the patient or impede her from obtaining help from other sources of assistance.

Wilson RG. (Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral. Can Med Assoc J. 1978 Apr 22;118(8):895-896.

(Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral

CA Johnson

Extract
Mr. Geekie’s interpretation of this section is most disturbing in that some of the phrases he uses suggest a derogatory attitude to physicians engaged in abortion referral. . . . It seems to me clearly unethical for a physician with moral conflicts of interest to refer a patient who consults him about an abortion to a clergyman. . . .It seems that what appeared to be a step forward in ensuring that patients receive unbiased professional judgement in each individual case has become just the opposite.

Johnson CA. (Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral. Can Med Assoc J. 1978 Apr 22;118(8):888, 890.

(Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral

MA Baltzan

Extract
The code means that a physician who has a conflict of interest between duty to a patient and personal belief shall refer the patient to someone who is not burdened by this conflict of interest, but the code states that a physician who has a conflict of interest between duty to a patient and personal belief shall refer the patient to someone who will provide the treatment the patient desires.

Baltzan MA. (Correspondence) The Code of ethics: abortion referral. Can Med Assoc J. 1978;118(8):895.

Doctors; conscience, care and pay

Gustave Gingras

Extract
Salaried physicians equal incompetent doctors? Certainly not! Quality medical care depends on a practitioner’s conscience, not the compensation method. . . One acquires professional ethics and satisfaction in one’s work. These things can also be lost, however. Whether the physician charges a fee for service or whether he is salaried, it is his professional conscience that remains his guide, his religion, his motto. . .

Gingras G. Doctors; conscience, care and pay. Can Med Assoc J. 1978 April 8;118(7):853-854.

Genuine appeals to conscience

Kenneth R Seeskin

Extract
Kordig denies that the dictates of one’s conscience are always either obligatory or morally permissible. With this thesis I have no quarrel. The recognition that a person’s conscience can be mistaken, sometimes dangerously so, is at least as old as Hobbes and has been maintained by philosophers as diverse as Hegel, Royce, and Nowell- Smith. Still, people do appeal to conscience in moral disputes and, as I will attempt to show, do so in a manner that is philosophically justifiable. My goal is not so much to attack what Kordig has said as it is to argue that his discussion is incomplete: some appeals to conscience are bogus but some are not.

Seeskin KR. Genuine appeals to conscience. J Value Inquiry. 1978;12(4):296-300.

1975 abortion report more informative than its predecessors

JSB

Extract
Statistics Canada has just released its detailed report of abortion in Canada for 1975. The report carries much more information than its predecessors. There are, for example, new sections on teenage abortions, sterilizations concurrent with abortions and associated complications, comparisons with abortion rates in other selected countries and gestation weeks by selected demographic and medical characteristics.

JSB. 1975 abortion report more informative than its predecessors. Can Med Assoc J. 1977 Oct 22;117(8):933.

(Correspondence) Operation of the abortion law

OA Schmidt

Extract
[Author is president of Society of Obstetrics & Gynaecology Canada] To one who works in the field of therapeutic abortion, if not by choice, at least by necessity, the [Badgley] report makes fascinating reading and provides a wealth of information – a bonanza bargain at the cost. It is comparable to the 1974 Lane report from Great Britain. Chapter 2 of the report presents a most commendable summary of the therapeutic abortion situation in Canada. This is the underlying basis of the report from which the conclusions may be drawn for further recommendations with respect to therapeutic abortion. [Writer offers three recommendations for progress].

Schmidt OA. (Correspondence) Operation of the abortion law. Can Med Assoc J. 1977 Aug 06;117(3):214.

Analysis: An introduction to ethical concepts – Conscience

Eric D’Arcy

Extract
Many people believe in conscience that a pregnant woman has supreme rights over what happens in her own body. Others believe in conscience that the right of the unborn child to life is as good as that of any other human being. In some countries, the law, in the name of the former right, discriminates against an obstetrician who, in the name of the latter, refuses to destroy that life. This is a serious contemporary issue which tests the sincerity of governments that profess respect for conscience.

D’Arcy E. Analysis: An introduction to ethical concepts – Conscience. J Med Ethics. 1977;3(2):98-99.

The Badgley report on the abortion law

WDS Thomas

Extract
Within months [of legalization] physicians across Canada were beset by requests for therapeutic abortion in numbers they had never faced before. Some hospitals established abortion committees; others “did not. Some committees were liberal in their interpretation of the new law; others were restrictive. Soon facilities at many hospitals became overloaded owing to the increased demand for therapeutic abortion, and the waiting period for elective surgery grew longer. Hospital personnel were suddenly confronted with the prospect of caring for patients undergoing voluntary termination of pregnancy, and for some persons this was a difficult task, but they either accepted it or moved to other areas. . .

Thomas WDS. The Badgley report on the abortion law. Can Med Assoc J. 1977;116(9):966.