Is this doctor playing "God"?

[JLM]

In the article it does not state why this Dr won't prescribe birth control pills.

Or did I miss it?

Birthcontrol pills can be quite dangerous for some people.

Wouldn't the onus be on the patient to divulge that?

Your family doctor may have a say if she has hospital privileges, many today don't. I've heard of several here in London. Otherwise, the attending physician is the one who makes the call and they are employed by the hospital. It is the hospital that provides the care needed/required/requested and does so by staffing with medical professionals capable and competent to provide such services. And there is no scramble, life support is not administered at home, it's done in the hospital and there is never just one doctor providing services to a patient, there are several.

Sigh, no. What I'm pointing out is there are a great many instances where a physician will make a referral for a service that he or she is not willing to provide. It's common practice. Does the reason why they are not willing to provide it matter? I thought you didn't want to know their personal beliefs.

That is something I just learned fairly recently. My doctor gave up his hospital privileges because he found he was being called quite a lot having to leave his patients stranded in the waiting room for possibly hours.

My philosophy is as follows, when you go to a G.P. I think you should be able to expect the services that fall with in the realm of G.P.'s abilities, and that should cover routine prescriptions. The patient has to bear some responsibility, just like when they are asked if they are allergic to penicillin.

I guess we should employ highly trained professionals to determine this. Because it's very important, I propose these professionals make this determination based on the needs of their patients through scientific observation.

There's two possible situations here, one is she was requesting a prescription she's used in the past and two she's requesting a prescription she hasn't used in the past. I would think the doctor would want to know if it's "one" or "two" and then act accordingly. "Two" might require some testing.

 

[SLM]

The bigger question then is why should doctors not be allowed to determine what services they provide when everyone else can?

 

[darkbeaver]

my garden is very very small, as my real garden was fenced off, with a path to the house,
and my two chocolate labradors can go there, so in the area where many lovely veggies grew,
i now shovel dog poop each day and bury it. lol

but the dog area is full of fruit trees now, so it does grow yummy things, and my dogs don't eat
meat, their food is '6 fish kibbel', along with 'no grain veggie' buscuits, so that poop in the
ground is actually doing some good.

i have one tomatoe plant in a pot, some rosemary, some mixed herbs in a pot, one cabbAge plant,
one spinach plant, in a different area, so all is not lost for the gardiner in me.

how about you.

I cut back on gardening for a few years but this spring my nephews and I have planted hundreds of feet of potatoes squash several varieties of beans and we've got two hundred chickens and three pigs. The supermarket chains can go to hell. We've got to start preserving pretty soon. My back hurts, my knees hurt, my feet hurt but apart from that I'm quite satisfied with the progress. We're using row covers to cut down on the weeding and the animals forage in the pastures which makes them way tastier are more nutritious. It's a little farm business based on permaculture. Everybody wants better food and the stagnant economy dictates we do this or we suffer the consequences, already there are many empty bellies in North America and Europe over and above the rest of the world. Did I mention my back hurts?

 

[Spade]

A woman playing Gawd? Unusual. But not as unusual as Gawd playing a woman.
-Christian Theology 101 (Summer Session)

 

[Corduroy]

The bigger question then is why should doctors not be allowed to determine what services they provide when everyone else can?

Most people can't if they want to keep their jobs.

 

[talloola]

yes she trying to prove that she stands by her person belief system and that it comes before her job

now how this should be handled is unclear to me

what else won't she do in an emergency situation where someone’s life/death is involved due to her judgement or lack there of and why does she believe is it up to her to judge another’s life choices?

she isn't judging another's life choice, she is staying true to her 'own' life choice, the other
person can go to a different doctor.

if she was judging the other person's life choice, she would argue the birth control choice, and
challenge the person's decision to take same.

i am amazed by many of the answers, as this is a free country where an individual may choose his
or her life choices, and if there were so few doctors that it became very difficult, then she
should possibly practice in an area where there are more choices, but she definitely should not be
pressured or badgered to change her views.

 

[Sal]

she isn't judging another's life choice, she is staying true to her 'own' life choice, the other
person can go to a different doctor.

if she was judging the other person's life choice, she would argue the birth control choice, and
challenge the person's decision to take same.

i am amazed by many of the answers, as this is a free country where an individual may choose his
or her life choices, and if there were so few doctors that it became very difficult, then she
should possibly practice in an area where there are more choices, but she definitely should not be
pressured or badgered to change her views.

she is refusing treatment I am not okay with that for the reasons stated.

 

[JLM]

The bigger question then is why should doctors not be allowed to determine what services they provide when everyone else can?

The only reason I can think of is their services may be more urgently needed.......................................than perhaps the average B.J. provided by the average hooker! -

 

[talloola]

I cut back on gardening for a few years but this spring my nephews and I have planted hundreds of feet of potatoes squash several varieties of beans and we've got two hundred chickens and three pigs. The supermarket chains can go to hell. We've got to start preserving pretty soon. My back hurts, my knees hurt, my feet hurt but apart from that I'm quite satisfied with the progress. We're using row covers to cut down on the weeding and the animals forage in the pastures which makes them way tastier are more nutritious. It's a little farm business based on permaculture. Everybody wants better food and the stagnant economy dictates we do this or we suffer the consequences, already there are many empty bellies in North America and Europe over and above the rest of the world. Did I mention my back hurts?

i love what you are doing, and just give that back some 'time out' once in a while. i know exactly what
your back feels like.

keep your back as straight as you can manage when bending over in the garden, stand up occasionally and
reach for the sky, and also slightly bend your back in the opposite direction now and then, massage,
very warm showers right before bed, then take an aspirin and call me in the morning.

she is refusing treatment I am not okay with that for the reasons stated.

even by not knowing the doctor at all, i will Assume she 'never' refuses treatment, and saying that,
i find it difficult to include requesting birth control pills as treatment.

the patient doesn't come into the office suffering from anything, the patient has made a decision to
request birth control pills, that certainly isn't an emmergency, and with the doctors referrel, which
i also assume she is willing to do, the patient can go to another doctor.

 

[gerryh]

Most people can't if they want to keep their jobs.

A doctors practice is not an individual in most cases. They operate as a business. As a business, they can decide what services they do and don't offer. That being said, even if this Doctor is an employee, what she can and can't do or what she is willing and not willing to do is between her and her employer, the clinic. It is none of the general publics business. No different than the agreement I have between my employer and myself as to what Plumbing and HVAC services I am willing to do.

 

[talloola]

Yep, part of the hypcratic oath is to "do no harm", now this would be very borderline, but some might argue that to cause a person anxiety is to do harm. I know it's "grasping at straws", but I feel she is putting her personal beliefs above the patient. We could extend it a step further and say she has a right to deny blood transfusions because she's a J.W. Maybe I'm being stupid! -

yep, one is non life threatening, and refusing a blood transfusion is toying with a person's life. If the patient was suffering from anxiety because the doctor
doesn't prescribe birth control pills, then she could go ahead and treat the mental problem of the
patient, as she has overreacted from an answer that isn't threatening at all.
people in every walk of life will have to deal with unreasonable people, thats just human nature, so
a patient who kicks up a stink because the doctor will not prescribe birth control pills, will have
to go away disgruntled and figure it out, tough.

now thats an interesting thought, could a j.witness ever become a medical doctor? me thinks not, unless
there is a specialty where the doctor will 'never' have to give blood transfusions, or request same.

 

[JLM]

A doctors practice is not an individual in most cases. They operate as a business. As a business, they can decide what services they do and don't offer. That being said, even if this Doctor is an employee, what she can and can't do or what she is willing and not willing to do is between her and her employer, the clinic. It is none of the general publics business. No different than the agreement I have between my employer and myself as to what Plumbing and HVAC services I am willing to do.

Yep, as long as there is no conflict with the Hippocratic oath.

 

[DaSleeper]

Muslim doctor refuses lesbian patients. Human rights commissions face dilemma.


But a non-story because a Christian isn't involved.....

 

[Twila]

I guess we should employ highly trained professionals to determine this. Because it's very important, I propose these professionals make this determination based on the needs of their patients through scientific observation.

I was wondering if maybe the clinic dr. feels she hasn`t the time for such. I don`t know if they have to see so many patients in a day. I do know that here in BC they are only allowed to see so many patients in a day and have been turned away before noon because their wait list contained the magic number as imposed by our gov`t.

It use to be (and may still be, I`m not sure) that clinics did not have access to your history. they only had what you told them. They use to not have a centralized data base. I remember having to sign papers for my island doctor to send to my new doctor my previous health records. I wondered if maybe this is why she felt uncomfortable prescribing them.

But like I stated earlier, the article doesn`t give her reasons, so this is all just conjecture.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I'd love to see a pharmacist who, whenever people come in with prescriptions for painkillers, tells them to "offer their suffering up to Gawd" and refuses to fill the scrips.

 

[Twila]

Wouldn't the onus be on the patient to divulge that?

Good question. I don't know. But even if it is, do you think she wouldn't still feel responsible should a negative or bad drug interaction take place? My guess is if a death occured and she hadn't done her due diligence she might be held medically responsible. Due diligence not meaning taking a patients word.

 

[Corduroy]

Yep, as long as there is no conflict with the Hippocratic oath.

Oh the Hippocratic Oath Board has long been in the back pocket of big pharma.

 

[QuebecCanadian]

Calgary doctor refuses to prescribe birth control - Calgary - CBC News


Is she trying to prove something?

Okay, buh-bye Doc.

 

[gerryh]

Okay, buh-bye Doc.

ummmmm, why?

 

[JLM]

ummmmm, why?

There's several different opinions about this and I guess most of them are valid, while I think the treatment is about the patient not the doctor some think people shouldn't be forced to do things that are against their judgment. I can respect both sides although I do know which doctor I would personally choose.