John D Lantos, Farr A Curlin
Extract
However, as long as medicine is practiced in a pluralistic democracy where some people find moral guidance in religions and others do not, situations will arise in which two paediatricians, both acting deliberately and conscientiously, will choose different responses to a given clinical decision. The policy challenge becomes one of specifying the situations for which conscience claims ought to be tolerated. . . For situations in which disagreement is consistent with good medical practice, practitioners must be free to follow the dictates of conscience. The risks of disallowing conscientious practice to the profession are greater than that of allowing grounded and well-articulated zones of moral pluralism.
Lantos JD, Curlin FA. Religion, conscience and clinical decisions. Acta Paediatrica. 2008;97(3):265-266.