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comment by oyster
oyster  ·  2163 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Does Conscientious Objection have a place in Medicine?

    Learning there were staff who refuse to work with post-abortion patients was surprising to me

Those are the people I had to roll my eyes at because that's when you realize it's not about objecting to doing something wrong, it's about feeling morally superior. Like voluntourism, it's never about the African children getting a nice new school, it's about the instagram picture that makes you feel good about yourself. My friend actually spent time in a country were this is common while studying for a bachelor of international development and told me about how the local men would go every night to fix what the kids did during that day.

Like, okay you don't want to perform abortions or assisted dying fine, I'm not going to view you as highly as I view other healthcare workers, but it's whatever. The other stuff is just silly, because they totally would provide care to somebody who was injured after killing somebody.

It's also not discrimination for a small community to need somebody who can handle these things. When a community needs a cardiologist it's not discrimination to not hire a pediatrician for the job. The community has a need and it needs to be filled. That's like me applying to be an editor, and saying it's discrimination to write me off for being dyslexic. The only accommodation that would help me complete that job is having an editor of my own and then there's really no point in hiring me.

I also think it's an issue that in places were this is a thing there's no way to know easily what doctors are capable of. I don't have a family doctor and I definitely don't have time to interview doctors to make sure that after I build a rapport with them they'll actually be there for me through whatever comes up. Patients have a right to make an informed decision about their healthcare and healthcare workers have a duty to provide information so that choice can be made.

    I wonder how far it extends, if a patient entered into an emergency state post-abortion and said staff was the only person available - surely they would just have to provide the help.

I could see a nurse being fired for refusing care in this situation and then suing. It wouldn't even be the craziest thing in the news these days.





user-inactivated  ·  2163 days ago  ·  link  ·  

>I also think it's an issue that in places were this is a thing there's no way to know easily what doctors are capable of.

Apologies for my formatting, I don't know how to highlight what you've said. But I agree, my current Dr just happens to be the first person I saw when I moved back to this city. Turns out, my partner had her as a Dr and she left after feeling.. less than happy about her interest in patient health.

I feel the same about her, I've had some inner ear balance problems for the past 9 weeks straight and she essentially just told me to keep waiting, so I've had to go and organize a specialist appointment myself as it's affecting everything around me - soon as I start walking the world shifts and I feel like I'm toppling sideways. Not conducive to me being productive 2 months down the track!

BUT I am not too keen to leave the practice as I don't know if any other place will be any better. She at the very least knows my history.

Sorry, bit of a ramble, I'm a little bitter about how long I've had to wait only to take action myself - point being I agree with you.