The actual ethics held by doctors, however, do not seem to be esteemed enough to feature much in the consultation documents and it appears that those who do not want to perform abortions, refer patients to doctors willing to perform them or to perform sex change operations.
In the United Kingdom, it appears we're moving to a time when the GMC seek to recruit cold and calculating doctors in the mould of Dr Harold Shipman and kiss goodbye to those who went into the medical profession to save, protect and defend human life from conception to natural death.
Therefore, I urge readers to pray and to present your views to the General Medical Council. Please read the message below from a reader:
The General Medical Council (The UK doctors' regulatory body) are about to modify doctors' rights to conscientiously object to certain medical procedures.
They are seeking public views and there is an online consultation which is open to all UK doctors and patients (therefore pretty much all UK residents) that closes AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT (UK time).
Some of the new guidance is reasonable but there are other worrying features: I’ll name just a few: in the new guidance it would appear that doctors will be forced to refer patients for sex change operations if the patient requests one (see para. 5—1st footnote*).
Also paragraph 2 states:
‘Serious… failure to follow this guidance will put your registration at risk’—threatening to permanently “strike off” doctors if they act in accordance with their consciences and not in accordance with patient demands.
Also, in para.4 the GMC state that they...
‘expect doctors to be prepared to set aside their personal beliefs’ in certain circumstances.
There’s a link to the new draft guidance here.
There’s a link to the actual consultation here (it takes only a few minutes to complete): You’ll need to register first which is also quick.
There is some more Catholic background to this at the Anscombe Bioethics website.
Do what you can readers and pray also. This is NOT a good time to be a doctor who holds fast to that which is good. Perhaps its because we have never lived under Communist rule in this country, that there are not alarm bells ringing across the land when conscience rights are under threat or discarded, but I hear that in Eastern Europe there were some doctors who weren't allowed to practise medicine because they were deemed too inimical to the Communist Party. Simple as that. These people ended up being window cleaners and the like.
It's not that far a stretch from telling a doctor that he has to do an abortion, or refer someone to a doctor who will, or else lose his livelihood, to telling a woman that she has to have an abortion, or lose her livelihood since a right can become a duty so very easily. Once the conscience of a doctor has been trampled upon, who is to stop the trampling over the consciences of patients? The fact that the GMC are issuing guidelines that compel doctors to go against their consciences (or else) is something seems to make Eastern Europeans recall Communism. Strange. Maybe when the Berlin Wall, all the Communists just came over here and took over seats at the GMC. Maybe after we've killed the first unborn baby because of a 'two-child policy' or something, we'll have realised that conscience was an important thing after all and we need those window cleaners back.
Alternatively, maybe they need to get rid of those with consciences in the medical profession now before the Government turns all UK Hospitals into killing centres for the elderly, terminally sick, infirm and societally 'unproductive'.
4 comments:
they dont have to ybdertake the procedures themselves, just refer the patient to the appropriate person/place... can't see what the problem is
The problem is that makes a person complicit in the action of procuring an abortion. That infringes on that person's conscience rights.
Just a theory of mine but since news reports say more and more doctors coming into the profession are opting out of performing abortion the NHS is in a delimma. Demand for abortion is up but the number of professionals willing to get involved is going down so that the solution is to curtail theuse o conscientious objection.
It is interesting to identify the members of the GMC and the various different fields of 'expertise' that they represent. I may be wrong but I would not be at all surprised to learn that the majority of members hold 'liberal/secular' views on ethical/moral issues, and it is these factions that are making the rules! I believe that certain members are not even from the field of 'medicine', that membership is by invitation,and I think is limited to a two or three year term. The question I would ask is by what right do these individuals lay down rules which clearly infringe the conscience of doctors and medical staff, and back up these rules with threats of grave disciplinary action in the event of non-compliance. The issue is nothing to do with good and ethical medical practice, it is along the same lines as the government's 'same-sex marriage' travesty,- "you will do as we say regardless of whether you consider it wrong-or else!". Are these people 'orchestrating the score' of medical ethics, from the same school of political and social science as our political masters ? If so, is this by chance or design?
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