Non-Conscience Based Refusals

There are many reasons why health care providers may refuse to provide various medical goods or services. Not all of them have to do with conscience objections. For example:

• One may refuse something that is outside the standard of care, such as refusing to provide an experimental treatment in favor of established, evidence-based treatments.
• A health care provider may refuse to provide a service that is illegal, such as refusing to perform an abortion when doing so is in violation of state law.
• Health care providers may refuse to provide a treatment that is outside of the scope of their training,
• Or they may refuse based on concerns for their own personal safety, such as a pregnant provider refusing to participate in a procedure that exposes her to radiation.

Conscience objections however, are both deeply personal and legally protected. This course explores this complex intersection.