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Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits

The widespread emergence of innumerable technologies within health care has complicated the choices facing caregivers and their patients. The escalation of knowledge and technical innovation has been accompanied by an erosion of moral and ethical consensus among health providers that is reflected in...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Murphy, Sean, Genuis, Stephen J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Netherlands 2013
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23793908
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9451-x
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author Murphy, Sean
Genuis, Stephen J.
author_facet Murphy, Sean
Genuis, Stephen J.
author_sort Murphy, Sean
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description The widespread emergence of innumerable technologies within health care has complicated the choices facing caregivers and their patients. The escalation of knowledge and technical innovation has been accompanied by an erosion of moral and ethical consensus among health providers that is reflected in the abandonment of the Hippocratic Oath as the immutable bedrock of medical ethics. Ethical conflicts arise when the values of health professionals collide with the expressed wishes of patients or the dictates of regulatory bodies and administrators. Increasing attempts by groups outside of the medical profession to limit freedom of conscience for health providers has raised concern and consternation among some health professionals. The personal and professional impact of health professionals surrendering freedom of conscience and participating in actions they deem malevolent or unethical has not been adequately studied and may not be inconsequential when considering the recognized impact of other circumstances of coerced complicity. We argue that the distinction between the two ways that freedom of conscience is exercised (avoiding a perceived evil and seeking a perceived good) provides a rational basis for a principled limitation of this fundamental freedom.
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spelling pubmed-38249762013-11-21 Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits Murphy, Sean Genuis, Stephen J. J Bioeth Inq Original Research The widespread emergence of innumerable technologies within health care has complicated the choices facing caregivers and their patients. The escalation of knowledge and technical innovation has been accompanied by an erosion of moral and ethical consensus among health providers that is reflected in the abandonment of the Hippocratic Oath as the immutable bedrock of medical ethics. Ethical conflicts arise when the values of health professionals collide with the expressed wishes of patients or the dictates of regulatory bodies and administrators. Increasing attempts by groups outside of the medical profession to limit freedom of conscience for health providers has raised concern and consternation among some health professionals. The personal and professional impact of health professionals surrendering freedom of conscience and participating in actions they deem malevolent or unethical has not been adequately studied and may not be inconsequential when considering the recognized impact of other circumstances of coerced complicity. We argue that the distinction between the two ways that freedom of conscience is exercised (avoiding a perceived evil and seeking a perceived good) provides a rational basis for a principled limitation of this fundamental freedom. Springer Netherlands 2013-06-21 2013 /pmc/articles/PMC3824976/ /pubmed/23793908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9451-x Text en © The Author(s) 2013 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Murphy, Sean
Genuis, Stephen J.
Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title_full Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title_fullStr Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title_full_unstemmed Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title_short Freedom of Conscience in Health Care: Distinctions and Limits
title_sort freedom of conscience in health care: distinctions and limits
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3824976/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23793908
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-013-9451-x
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