Conscience Rules: Implications for Care

Ryan Blum

The Hastings Center Report
The Hastings Center Report

Extract
On February 18, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a rule, “Regulation for the Enforcement of Federal Health Care Provider Conscience Protection Laws,” that limits health care providers’ power to shape their practice by personal conviction. The rule narrows possible conscientious objection significantly, protecting patients’ rights and in the process eliminating public reinforcement of the harmful idea that religion and medicine are always destined to diverge.


Blum R. Conscience Rules: Implications for Care. Hastings Cent Rep 2011;41(3):c3.