Journal Correspondence Archives - Page 8 of 24 - Protection of Conscience Project Library

(Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio

(Dr. Bart responds)

John Bart

Canadian Medical Association Journal, CMAJ — Canadian Medical Association Journal

Extract
“You’re an interferer, not an adviser; like the rest of your ingenuous ilk.” . . . “You have no humility. You underestimate your patients. You assume they don’t know anything, that they just react to circumstances.”. . . He shook his neck and preened his feathers as he delivered the coup de grace. “Let me tell you: that’s what you do because you don’t like what they’re up to.” . . . “Give ’em credit for being able to run their own affairs, you paternalistic autocrat!” . . . “We live in a social democracy now” . . . “Stick to medicine (it’s hard enough for you to get that right). Leave morals for moralists. Too many cooks have spoiled that broth already.”

Bart J. (Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio (Dr. Bart responds). Can Med Assoc J. 1990;143(9):832.

(Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio

Gillian Arsenault

Extract
He explains that advising a patient how to proceed morally (as in the matter of abortion) is playing God. . . Instead, we should refuse to play God: we should let the patient make her own decision and take the responsibility for herself. I cannot agree with Bart, at least not as far as Christian god- lore goes. As I recall, God gave man free choice, so that he could make his own decisions and take the responsibility for himself. Therefore, if we doctors do not wish to play God, we should be advising our patients how to proceed. In fact, we normally do advise our patients how to proceed,whether there be one suitable option or many. We also advise strongly against unsuitable options. Indeed, if a patient informs us that she intends to inflict bodily harm on anyone, we not only advise her not to do it but may even commit her to keep her from doing it. The sad exception, of course, is when a patient informs us that she intends to inflict bodily harm on her own baby in utero. In this case Bart would have it that we should dispassionately accept the patient’s decision. If killing on request isn’t playing God, then what is?

Arsenault G. (Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio. Can Med Assoc J. 1990;143(9):829-832.

(Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio

(Dr. Bart responds)

John Bart

Extract
These two letters, one so clear, the other so impassioned, seem to have the right of it; so too do the arguments of their opponents when I read them. Therein lies the rub: everyone is right, according to his lights. The question for the rest of us is, How bright are these lights? I for one do not know. . . .”In a world where everyone is right, nothing is left but personal responsibility. That will take you down the straight and narrow road to whatever you and yours deserve. That is the true meaning of PR. I wish we all did just that, good PR, instead of living each others’ lives, which is where all the trouble comes from.” . . . “You mind your business, I’ll mind mine; then everyone will have an easier time.”.

Bart J. (Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio (Dr. Bart responds). Can Med Assoc J. 1991;143(3):277.

(Correspondence) CMA’s Code of Ethics

Robert H Brown

Summary
Writer asks Canadian Medical Association to clarify if prohibition of abortion in Hippocratic Oath is considered invalid by the CMA.

Brown RH. (Correspondence) CMA’s Code of Ethics. Can Med Assoc J. 1990;143(2):88.

(Correspondence) CMA’s Code of Ethics

Eike-Henner Kluge (Canadian Medical Association)

Extract
(Quotes preamble to Hippocratic Oath) Whoever takes this oath swears to use his or her judgement in following the clauses that form the body of the oath. Therefore, if in the best judgement of a physician it is medically appropriate to perform an abortion, then this oath allows the physician to perform the abortion. In fact, given the whole tenor and thrust of the oath, it could even be argued that in such a case the oath enjoins the physician to perform an abortion as a matter of conscientious and professional medical practice. . .there is no contradiction between saying that the CMA’s Code of Ethics retains the principles in the oath and saying that the CMA’s policy on abortion is in keeping with its Code of Ethics.

Kluge E-H. (Correspondence) CMA’s Code of Ethics. Can Med Assoc J. 1990 Jul 15;143(2):88-89.

(Correspondence) Abortion as mayhem

R H Boardman

Extract
The criminalization of abortion in Britain stemmed from the crime of mayhem. Any act that left the victim less able to serve the monarch was mayhem. . . Abortion might deprive the monarch of a future British soldier, so it was considered mayhem. Its criminalization had little to do with the sanctity of life.

Boardman RH. (Correspondence) Abortion as mayhem. Can Med Assoc J. 1990;142(11):1183.

(Correspondence) CMA’s response to abortion bill

Donald S Stephens

Extract
Doctors, won’t you admit yet that abortion is the only medical act other than euthanasia whose purpose is to kill people?

Stephens DS. (Correspondence) CMA’s response to abortion bill. Can Med Assoc J. 1990 Apr 15;142(8):798.

(Correspondence) A woman is her fetus?

Brian A Shamess

Extract
Unwanted pregnancy is a social and economic issue. No one would deny that there are very real hardships created by unwanted pregnancy. I have personal experience to attest to this. It seems to me that killing your baby is the worst possible solution. Statements such as “a woman is her fetus” are untrue and do nothing to enlighten the debate.

Shamess BA. (Correspondence) A woman is her fetus? Can Med Assoc J. 1990 Mar 01;142(5):437.

(Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio

John Bart

Extract
“When the doctor thinks he is closer to his god than he is to his patient, that’s when he sins with style and vigour.” (He did not add “ignoramus”; it was implicit in his sarcastic stare.) I beg to offer his advice to all those who would tell their patients how to behave morally. Don’t exceed the DPG ratio. Let the patient make the decision for herself and carry the responsibility. You do likewise – for yourself. After all, you are just another person with specialized knowledge, and that implies specialized limits. By all means don’t do what you don’t want to do, but don’t play godlet. It doesn’t suit the image of dispassionate adviser.

Bart J. (Correspondence) Abortion and the DPG ratio. Can Med Assoc J. 1990;142(5):437-438.

(Correspondence) Induced abortion

David R Amies

Extract
The views expressed by Dr. A.J. Cunningham (Can Med Assoc J 1989; 141: 869) are offensive and insulting to many members of our profession. Perhaps they are meant to be. . . . For Cunningham to suggest that those who provide abortion services do so only for gain and that they are to be likened to Clifford Olsen is scandalous. Cunningham’s righteousness does not grace the pages of CMAJ.

Amies DR. (Correspondence) Induced abortion. Can Med Assoc J. 1990;142(2):97-98. Available from: