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Archbishop of Toronto Condemns Attempt to Curb Ontario Physician Conscience Rights

By Hilary White

TORONTO, September 15, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The attempt by the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons to remove conscience protection from doctors who refuse to commit abortion, has garnered a sharp response from the Catholic archbishop of Toronto, Thomas Collins. Draft guidelines from the College may mean, he wrote, that "physicians have good reason to fear that they will be brought before Human Rights Tribunals in our province for following their consciences."

Under the draft guidelines, doctors may be liable to disciplinary action if they refuse to commit or refer for some requested medical procedure. This goes contrary to the current rules in Canada, which acknowledge that a physician has the right to refuse to perform an act he considers immoral. 

The draft document says, "Physicians should be aware that decisions to restrict medical services offered, to accept individuals as patients, or to end physician-patient relationships that are based on moral or religious belief may contravene the Code, and/or constitute professional misconduct."

Archbishop Collins, in an open letter to Dr. Preston Zuliani, the chairman of the executive committee of the College, asked, "If a physician cannot in conscience perform or facilitate an action that is requested, will that physician face the threat of being sanctioned for violating a patient's human rights and for professional misconduct?"

"Is that the cost of being true to one's conscience?"

A document from the Ontario Human Rights Commission giving its approval of the proposals also drew a rebuke from Collins. The Archbishop expressed his fears "that in our province physicians may have good reason to expect to face efforts to force them to act against their consciences."

Health care is an inherently moral endeavour, said the Archbishop, "in which the overall good of patients is sought and harm to patients is avoided" and "both physicians and patients must be free to remain true to their own convictions if medical decision making is to retain its inherently moral character."

"A physician who, in conscience, for moral or religious reasons, is not able to perform some requested action should respond respectfully and courteously: 'I am not able to do what you request'," Archbishop Collins said.

Sean Murphy of the Protection of Conscience Project, was even more direct, calling the College's attempts to remove doctors' rights of conscience, "blasphemy against the human spirit."

Murphy said that to force doctors to act against their conscientious convictions is "to deprive them of their essential humanity." Murphy called the proposed policy "profoundly offensive and demeaning."

Murphy was also highly critical of the precipitate methods of the College, noting that the deadline for submission of comment on the guidelines was only extended to September 12 after a public outcry.

"At least two substantial briefs reached the College only on Friday," he said. "Decision-making that impacts fundamental freedoms should be conducted transparently, not secretly. Why keep the revised draft secret? Is there something to hide?"

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