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Extract If members of legislative assemblies are meant to be our representatives for the purposes of deliberating about whether legislative measures are the right measures in terms of the general good of the community, conscience votes are an essential element of the legislative process. Australian political institutions are a less than perfect embodiment of the deliberative view of the legislative process. The competing mandate view is deeply entrenched in the attitudes of the political class. Accordingly, the explicit designation of a vote as a conscience vote remains a rare event in Australian politics. In so far as members of legislative assemblies are free to vote according to their consciences, it is important for them to understand what a conscience vote ought not to be. . . .
Gregory D Curfman, Stephen Morrissey, Jeffrey M Drazen
New England Journal of Medicine
Extract Physicians and other health care providers should not be involved in capital punishment, even in an advisory capacity. A profession dedicated to healing the sick has no place in the process of execution.
Curfman GD, Morrissey S, Drazen JM. Physicians and Execution. N Engl J Med. 2008 Jan 24;358(4):403-404.
Gary W Clark, Kelly Latimer, Richard W Sams II, Gordon Zubrod
Family Medicine
Extract Abortion training for residents is not simply a “politically charged” issue, as the authors assert. It is a moral or ethical issue. As faculty physicians in family medicine residency programs, we oppose the introduction of abortion training on moral, not political grounds. German physicians “politicized” euthanasia and ultimately killed 200,000 mentally ill and disabled persons from 1939–1945.
Extract As we gear up to provide the basket of services important to our patients in the Future of< Family Medicine, residencies need the information in these articles to be able to best design and implement abortion training. Residents with a strong experience in reproductive health, including abortion, will be best suited to meet the needs of the women they will meet in their future practices.
Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care
Abstract Background and methodology Community pharmacists’ role in the sale and supply of emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) represents an opportunity to increase EHC availability and utilise pharmacists’ expertise but little is known about pharmacists’ attendant ethical concerns. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with 23 UK pharmacists to explore their views and ethical concerns about EHC.
Results Dispensing EHC was ethically acceptable for almost all pharmacists but beliefs about selling EHC revealed three categories: pharmacists who sold EHC, respected women’s autonomy and peers’ conscientious objection but feared the consequences of limited EHC availability; contingently selling pharmacists who believed doctors should be first choice for EHC supply but who occasionally supplied and were influenced by women’s ages, affluence and genuineness; non-selling pharmacists who believed EHC was abortion and who found selling EHC distressing and ethically problematic. Terminological/factual misunderstandings about EHC were common and discussing ethical issues was difficult for most pharmacists. Religion informed non-selling pharmacists’ ethical decisions but other pharmacists prioritised professional responsibilities over their religion.
Discussion and conclusions Pharmacists’ ethical views on EHC and the influence of religion varied and, together with some pharmacists’ reliance upon non-clinical factors, led to a potentially variable supply, which may threaten the prompt availability of EHC. Misunderstandings about EHC perpetuated lay beliefs and potentially threatened correct advice. The influence of subordination and non-selling pharmacists’ dispensing EHC may also lead to variable supply and confusion amongst women. Training is needed to address both factual/terminological misunderstandings about EHC and to develop pharmacists’ ethical understanding and responsibility.
