{"id":14330,"date":"2009-04-19T14:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-04-19T21:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330"},"modified":"2023-01-28T15:56:16","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T23:56:16","slug":"legal-protection-and-limits-of-conscientious-objection-when-conscientious-objection-is-unethical-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330","title":{"rendered":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bernard M Dickens<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"157\" height=\"230\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlaw.jpg\" alt=\"Medicine and Law\" class=\"wp-image-11149\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Medicine and Law<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Abstract<\/strong><br>The right to conscientious objection is founded on human rights to act according to individuals&#8217; religious and other conscience. Domestic and international human rights laws recognize such entitlements. Healthcare providers cannot be discriminated against, for instance in employment, on the basis of their beliefs. They are required, however, to be equally respectful of rights to conscience of patients and potential patients. They cannot invoke their human rights to violate the human rights of others. There are legal limits to conscientious objection. Laws in some jurisdictions unethically abuse religious conscience by granting excessive rights to refuse care. In general, healthcare providers owe duties of care to patients that may conflict with their refusal of care on grounds of conscience. The reconciliation of patients&#8217; rights to care and providers&#8217; rights of conscientious objection is in the duty of objectors in good faith to refer their patients to reasonably accessible providers who are known not to object. Conscientious objection is unethical when healthcare practitioners treat patients only as means to their own spiritual ends. Practitioners who would place their own spiritual or other interests above their patients&#8217; healthcare interests have a conflict of interest, which is unethical if not appropriately declared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Dickens BM. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/26765738_Legal_protection_and_limits_of_conscientious_objection_When_conscientious_objection_is_unethical\">Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical<\/a>. Med Law. 2009;28(2)337-347. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bernard M Dickens AbstractThe right to conscientious objection is founded on human rights to act according to individuals&#8217; religious and other conscience. Domestic and international human rights laws recognize such entitlements. Healthcare providers cannot be discriminated against, for instance in employment, on the basis of their beliefs. They are required, however, to be equally respectful &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[554,2,559,1646,552],"tags":[1147],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-14330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-journal-article","category-law","category-referral","category-religion","tag-bernard-m-dickens"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Patients&#039; rights are reconciled with providers&#039; conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patients&#039; rights are reconciled with providers&#039; conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlawog.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"338\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlawog.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencpro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Project Administrator\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\"},\"headline\":\"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/medlaw.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Bernard M Dickens\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Ethics\",\"Journal Articles\",\"Law\",\"Referral\",\"Religion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330\",\"name\":\"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/medlaw.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Patients' rights are reconciled with providers' conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/medlaw.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/03\\\/medlaw.jpg\",\"width\":157,\"height\":230,\"caption\":\"Medicine and Law\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=14330#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Protection of Conscience Project Library\",\"description\":\"Service, not Servitude\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/10\\\/projectlogo.jpg\",\"width\":1123,\"height\":1376,\"caption\":\"Protecton of Conscience Project\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/consciencepro\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/consciencpro\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098\",\"name\":\"Project Administrator\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Project Administrator\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.consciencelaws.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/library.consciencelaws.org\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Patients' rights are reconciled with providers' conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library","og_description":"Patients' rights are reconciled with providers' conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.","og_url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330","og_site_name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","article_published_time":"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":338,"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlawog.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Project Administrator","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlawog.jpg","twitter_creator":"@consciencpro","twitter_site":"@consciencpro","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Project Administrator","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330"},"author":{"name":"Project Administrator","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098"},"headline":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical","datePublished":"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330"},"wordCount":234,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlaw.jpg","keywords":["Bernard M Dickens"],"articleSection":["Ethics","Journal Articles","Law","Referral","Religion"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330","name":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical - Protection of Conscience Project Library","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlaw.jpg","datePublished":"2009-04-19T21:42:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-01-28T23:56:16+00:00","description":"Patients' rights are reconciled with providers' conscientious objection by requiring objectors to refer patients to non-objecting providers.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlaw.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/medlaw.jpg","width":157,"height":230,"caption":"Medicine and Law"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=14330#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Legal Protection and Limits of Conscientious Objection: When Conscientious Objection is Unethical"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","name":"Protection of Conscience Project Library","description":"Service, not Servitude","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#organization","name":"Protecton of Conscience Project","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/projectlogo.jpg","width":1123,"height":1376,"caption":"Protecton of Conscience Project"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/consciencepro","https:\/\/x.com\/consciencpro"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/#\/schema\/person\/263d102b35e3f7822db6d548b2555098","name":"Project Administrator","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2f23b26a3373f72c4b33841a689bb10155dcc572564e51c5b3bb99d75ffbd2b8?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Project Administrator"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.consciencelaws.org"],"url":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14870,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14330\/revisions\/14870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14330"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fpost_folder&post=14330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}